"Gratitude" (draft 1)

(draft 1)

This is the beginning of what I hope will be a very exciting and gestural piece. There will eventually be a white feather in the piece....or not. That will depend on what happens in the next layers.

My inspiration, mood, and look for this piece is definitely being informed from my kiln formed glass work. Transparent watercolor is the perfect medium for emulating layers of transparent glass fused in a three layer stack.

Opaque glass will eventually become a part of my watercolor voice as well. I will be able to create that by painting a rather dark value over a portion of the piece first, followed by thin glazes.

In this first draft, I began with a half sheet of Fabriano 300 lb. CP. By pouring some masking fluid in a small bottle with a tip, I was able to write the word gratitude twice and create a few erratic lines and "splotches".

After that layer dried, I wet the sheet of paper on both sides with a sponge and some water. I then mixed up a rather saturated amount of Neutral Tint (Daniel Smith Brand). After removing the excess water with a dry brush, I charged in the neutral tint. This was followed by inscribing lines into the paper with a bamboo pen. As the paper began to dry a bit, I used a more concentrated amount of the neutral tint and created more line work and a few words written with a pointed brush.

Finally, I ended this part by charging in a bit darker neutral tint in the central area where most of the lines cross. "Charging in" with more color can be risky when the paper is already losing its sheen because it could create a bloom. Sometimes that is preferred. In this case, I did get a small bloom which creates a hard and ragged edge. I like the texture of it, so for me, it was a preferred thing.

What I am attempting to do here is create the same depth as I can achieve in glass work. By having soft and diffused edges in the background and even some of the white showing through is also easily achieved in glass by beginning with clear glass...sifting powders on and spraying with water to get a watercolor effect and soft edges. On another piece of glass...powders can be sifted on and then removed by writing gesturally with a shaper tool or corner of a credit card. When these are fired separately and then stacked, they can create a similar look to what I just did in watercolor. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.