The Harbormaster

My work generally alternates between two “modes”…”study mode” and “production mode.” The same is true for a lot of artists, I think, and is the reason we force ourselves to seek out and accept exhibition opportunities—we need the pressure of a deadline to get us out of “study” and into “production.”
​Sometimes, though, production occurs naturally at the end of a period of study. When we began our Fall/Winter series of classes here at ET Studio this past November I began to put together a program of things I’m calling “Watercolor Essentials.” “Harbormaster II,” the b/w watercolor above left, is a “big brush exercise” I frequently do to build brushwork and compositional skills, as well as stamina. (See “24 Narcissus,” my previous post). In “The Harbormaster,” (watercolor on Arches paper, 22″ X 15″), above right, I combined the exercise with a luminous background of graded washes, in a technique the California watercolorists used to call “glaze and silhouette.” This one, I thought, finally deserved a frame. It’s hanging now down at STEAM Works, (www.steamworksscranton.org/ ) at “The Mall at Steamtown,” Scranton, PA…where I’ll be teaching “Watercolor Essentials” beginning April 20th, 2017.