Nudes, Sketching and Play of Light
Originally, I had not planned on having any nudes on the site so it would be family-friendly. Well, I’ve decided that is not really fair to anyone I find who has the talent to take nudes into the realm of art focusing on form and grace as Kate Childers has done with her nudes. The shading is excellent and whether this is called a sketch, a study, a drawing or a painting - it is evocative of emotion and restful serenity.
I have not verified any of these were done with watercolors … but it does not really matter actually … all are wonderful and the play of light on the succulent is a tightrope balancing act that is perfect - it looks like watercolors to me and I find it to be a wonderful painting to illustrate play of light.
For anyone who has tried to mimic the play of light on anything, they know just how difficult it can be to get it right or even looking anything like the reality, let alone the illusion of reality needed to make a painting great instead of good. This painting is great. I feel as if I am sitting there watching the light gently moving across the plant and the area … the colors harmonize for the perfect blend of restful energy that give the illusion of light playing over the area and the plant. Looking at this painting makes me feel good about being alive to enjoy such beauty and it gives me the desire to go find a garden with a bench to watch the real play of light on the plants. It also gives me the desire to continue trying to capture this delicate play of light … even if I continue to fail .. I learn something new from each try.
Someone told me once that oils are much more forgiving than watercolors … you can make all kinds of mistakes and recover easily from them but that you only get one chance in a watercolor to do it right. I find they were usually right. But I also find that those “accidents” can be a wonderful learning tool of making lemonade out of lemons. I also deliberately create some of those “accidents” while creating abstract watercolors.
Sketching is a time-honored way of quickly grasping the major look and feel of the subject.
