topography and landscape

[^ Landscape with Warehouse. watercolor on T.H. Saunders 90 lb hot press paper. 5 x 7". December 2011.]

"Topography has been defined as the portraiture of places .... whether it be a group of mountains, a stretch of pastoral country, a street in a town, or a gentleman's country seat and will record its features for posterity. Landscape is the imaginative manipulation of natural features such as hills, trees, rivers, fields, clouds, and so forth, into a composition which will be aesthetically pleasing or otherwise impressive. The distinction is one of aim, and in theory it is sharply defined. In practice it is not always so easy to make. Both elements may exist in the same artist, even in the same drawing."
- Iolo A. Williams, Early English Watercolours (ch. 1), 1952

One of the real joys and advantages of watercolor painting is the ability to see results and work through to completion in a relatively short amount of time. It allows for immediacy and directness, with no long waits while layers of paint dry or "set up" as in most oil painting techniques (alla prima being the obvious exception), and no slow layering as in egg tempera. Watercolor allows constant and fast work that only acrylic can match, but with a surface quality I believe is superior for its elegance (apologies to you acrylic painters). Also, I am working within small dimensions which certainly speeds things up. The end result being that I am very happy making these small watercolor paintings depicting specific, recognizable places or vague, perhaps imaginary, impressions --- and sometimes these things merge, as you know --- in colors that can glow like jewels and subtly shift into murk and shadow.

I've been trying my hand at hot pressed watercolor papers, resisting my usual preference for cold pressed, and working through the angst and frustration that this surface causes. The disadvantages it creates can lead to some interesting results and makes me rethink my tendencies and habits with a medium I've learned much about over the past year or two.