Caffeine 'n' Diesel
Studio 52 2022
In 2022, Studio 52 embarked on a group project called "Luck of the Draw".
Rules for the project:
For each person to use 52 randomly selected paint chips and base our pieces on either the colour, the name of the colour, or both. It is each artist's choice as to medium, size, and whether they plan which colour(s) they use that week or whether they make it a bit of a game of chance. There are no stipulations as to number of pieces or sizes of pieces. The only rule was to use all 52 paint chips.
Each artist set out with a specific goal for how they were going to tackle this.
I named my artistic adventure "Fish Out of Water" because watercolour was the medium I chose, and it definitely took me to a place where I felt like a fish out of water. My project was based more on the paint chips' names than on the colours, but sometimes the colours worked perfectly for the subjects I chose. In all cases, I painted the first thing that came to my mind when reading the paint chip names.
Life did what it does, and this project is still in progress, but it's almost done and I hope to post it by late 2025.
"Mirabelle"
8x10 watercolor/mixed media on Arches Art Board
My project is based more on the paint chip names than the colours, but in this case both colour and name were the inspiration for this piece. Paint colours were: Warm & Toasty, Knitted Cape, and Wool Peacoat. All I could think of was a sheep's thick warm wool!
The base of the painting was watercolour, followed by acrylic, then more watercolour, and finished off with final touchups of acrylic. This piece was quite challenging because I haven't painted in a very long time and the creative juices are running a bit slow still. Also I'm still recovering from my broken wrist so I can't paint for long periods of time yet.
Hope you like her!
"Square Tower House, Mesa Verde"
7x10 Watercolour
Paint chip: City Shadows
We visited Mesa Verde years ago and this was the first cliff dwelling I'd ever seen. I've always been totally fascinated by them and literally couldn't breathe when I first peeked over the railing and saw it way down the cliff face. I've wanted to paint it ever since then and it finally happened!
This painting was inspired by the colour called City Shadow. Every time I thought of city shadows, I remembered Square Tower House. If not for it's shadows, it and Mesa Verde's other cliff dwellings would have been extremely difficult to see because they were carved out of the cliffs themselves and therefore disappeared into them.
