The month of February has often been a month full of events, usually negative ones. Many losses have taken place for me in the month of February throughout my life. Those events, while often difficult and sad, have proven to be transformative. This alone has provided me a background for why some cultures may have their New Year celebrations during this time, rather than that of the Gregorian calendar. I recently learned that others parts of the world use a variety of calendars and the ones we typically use in America are very two-dimensional. There are solar and moon calendars, among other kinds that are used around the world. The piece I have been working on is for a client who shared with me an app on his phone that shows different types of calendars all at once. For him, being from Iran, there are many different days that have different meaning and he explained some of this to me. I found this so interesting and exciting. Time has often been something I am fascinated by, but I will spare you and everyone else a long diatribe about that, but if you're interested in learning about calendar stuff from Wikipedia, here is a link.
I have had a very productive start-of-year making progress on several projects and finishing some others. I wanted to share an example of an experiment that I did using a variety of different watercolor papers to demonstrate how they can impact the way watercolor paint behaves.
Also, some of this I can safely say is a great way to work out my own shortcomings with a piece. The client for this particular piece as I mentioned is not originally from America and views farmland scenes with barns very differently than someone like me. I remember in college connecting with a classmate over how much we did not like paintings of barns. For me it was a symbol of things I wanted to leave behind, rural life and all the baggage that came with it. For my client, it was the opposite. He explained that it feels like prosperity, peace, and potential for the future.
I started with a series 400 Strathmore cold-press watercolor paper, what is supposed to be their higher-end paper. This paper couldn't hold water the same way I can't hold my liquor. This paper was white-girl wasted just like your truly, somehow not-too-much became way-too-much-way-too-fast.
The paper warped, pushed the color around in undesirable ways and pulled away from the tape edges. And to top it all off, the trees really got muddy and gross. How can one botched painting resemble me when drunk so hard?! Can you see all the similarities?
Sometimes you gotta dust yourself off and move on hoping that no one remembers the drunken mess you were the night before. Sometimes you gotta embrace that mess and own it, even if you were an asshole. The client and I have shared a few drinks and together I would say some of my favorite experiences with him so far have been getting down on some bloody marys and bowling. Rather than be ashamed of this first try, I am going to start again with a better paper. Arches cold press watercolor paper is one of the nicest and most expensive papers I have ever used. Here is a quick animation to demonstrate how the water absorption and color distribution worked much more like it should.
Arches makes a very nice paper that can handle water and showcase pigment beautifully. The journey of this piece and my relationship with the client is one that is unique for me in Madison. I have been rather reserved and careful with most folks here and I have tried to keep my loud and sometimes completely inappropriate self contained and conscientious. While I still very much do this, sometimes it is nice to let loose and let the stakes be low. Bowling, having a drink, sharing in another person's culture and perspective was something I needed to refresh my own views. I have been so privileged to have great people in my life who have shared in these kinds of experiences and I hope that the client feels some of that in the finished piece.
*I started this blog on Feb 7 as it says. I saved it and never posted it. So, here it is in all it's glory two weeks later.