very discomfortable failure

"But at first, and even for some time, you must be prepared for very discomfortable failure; which, nevertheless, will not be without some wholesome result."
- John Ruskin, The Elements of Drawing

"Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."
- Batman Begins





I have been having a heck of a time of it lately with the painting, and it seems as if I cannot get through a single one without errors abounding. Every painting that I foul up will be redone, because it's in the errors that I get my learning in.

Besides the paintings, I am often doing these small watercolor studies, wherein the aim is to get down, in a short amount of time, the arrangement, structure, colors, and values of whatever is in front of me. Sometimes it's difficult --- a tree is a very complicated item --- but if the enjoyment is there I usually get something out of it. But if it isn't there, I'll come home with a bunch of duds. I don't throw them out, though. Good or bad, they often get me thinking.

August was pretty busy for me with my new assortment of watercolors, heading out to Prospect Park in Brooklyn for these small watercolor studies. I'll use these in developing bigger paintings this winter when all the leaves have gone. It will take more drawings and paintings, though, to have enough visual information to rely on. I avoid working from photographs.

So the three little watercolor studies are along the lines of what I've been doing, 4x6", and using the eight color, 19th century-based palette I put together recently. I'm really enjoying the results. Lot's of beautiful, muddy colors. I've included some mixtures here.