daily a stone

“I really have but a few moments to devote to it daily; yet daily a stone, small or great, is laid upon the pile.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It seems that most days I have little time to put towards my painting but I try to grab even 30 minutes or an hour here and there. So the other day I worked up this color study of a group of buildings. Unfortunately, I have no idea of the location of this view. But I wanted to just get down the general effect of these forms and the light that was pouring across them as the sun broke through on a blustery March afternoon. I worked on this at home from notes I made earlier in the day. It measures 8 x 12” and is more than just quick color notes but less than a complete painting. And there are problems with the perspective.

On these March days, when the air is really wet, the buildings liquefy and puddle as the distance pulls them away. It was really beautiful to look at and I wanted to get some of that effect down.

a bad painting

“What shall I wish you: good studies made after nature, that is the best thing.” - Paul Cézanne to Charles Camoin, 13 Sept. 1903

“Paint is worth attention even in a bad painting.” - Lynton Lamb, Preparation For Painting

A few months back I mentioned a watercolor painting I had started that was much larger (19.25 x 26.75”) than any I had previously done in that medium. I also said that, good or bad, I would post it . I’ve been finished for a while now and here it is, perfectly nice and perfectly boring. (The image will be cropped later.)

The subject is a roof line and water tower, visible from the intersection of East 17th Street & University, and is typical of the many thousands in New York. Water towers fascinate me. The plaster and brick walls, weathered and discolored, along with the random accumulation of antennas, vents, ducts, and other objects, make each one entirely different than the next. It’s fascinating, like people or snowflakes - - - you wonder how there can be so many with no two the same.

I have a growing amount of sketches and watercolors of these water towers and their adjacent roof lines. I also take photos, for backup. This painting was worked up from one of those small sketches and other notes. I see now I should have made more sketches and more notes.

But I didn’t want to get caught up in detail. Rather, I wanted to approach it in a simple and straightforward way. I am fascinated by the work of the English watercolorist John Sell Cotman (1782-1842). The simplicity of his paintings is almost deceptive. They have such beautiful, broad handling. That’s what I was attempting - - - not his effect, since that is his own, but his approach. This may appear to conflict with my ongoing efforts in (so-called) “realism” but it doesn’t. Really.

And I failed. This is a bad painting. But even failures are valuable. I will have to do it over. Despite my original intentions, I spent too much time on it and tamped the life right out. This was an attempt to work in watercolor at almost four times larger than I normally work at. The size of the brush, the relation of the brushstroke to the size of the image, is entirely different here than at one-quarter the size, as you can imagine.

When I paint it again I will further simplify my approach. But, for now, here it is, overdue and full of problems.