Welcome to The Watercolors
Click on the video screen
icon in the column on the
right to see a video tour of the painting or click on the
magnifying glass to see static, full-screen sized shots.
How are these
watercolors created?
If I were a more
gifted watercolorist (or any watercolorist at all) I
could take palette in one hand and brush in the other and paint
whatever I liked. But I can't. Now, I can do
other creative things fairly easily, but watercolors are not one
of my innate talents. I've tried repeatedly and the results were so
unbearably mediocre, so sophomoric that it wasn't worth wasting
paper and paint. Uninspired. Truly. Until one
day for reasons that remain unknown even to me even today, I had a
wild hair to try something different. Something I had never heard
of before. I don't even know why I did it. But to my
complete surprise, the results were unbelievable.
Intricate images
seemed to give birth to themselves under the cover of darkness,
beneath my plastic and wet paint. And I stood by, breathless
and amazed at this seeming miracle time after time, like a midwife
who is carefully observant of what is trying to come forward so that
she may assist it in it's coming, yet fully realizes that is it not
'she' who has given birth. Well, in the larger sense that 'we are
all one' of course I did. Who else brought these
forward? But from the perspective of the midwife, it is
fascinating to behold.
And that is how
I got into doing these watercolors. In the way other painters
might stare at a blank canvas and see what arises in their mind's
eye and paint it there, I instead pull the plastic off my wet
watercolors and see what is trying to come into being, hailing from
regions unknown. Sometimes they need a little encouragement.
Other times, they walk in on their own two feet and all I do is
breath a whisper of thanks that I was there to see it happen.
In a practical
sense, here's what I contribute: First, I lay down some random
color (unless it is going to be monochromatic), and I let
that dry a little. Then, I cover that color with a darker
color. Before the darker color dries, I spread a
plastic garbage bag over the painting and 'smoosh' it around a bit.
Then I carefully
peel it off.
Sometimes I stop right there.
Other times, I may spray it with additional water from a spray
bottle, or flick or spray rubbing alcohol on it, or dapple my fingertips in it, or pat it
with my hand randomly. Finally, I dry the painting with
my blow dryer, sometimes also dabbing off
the wetter areas with paper towels or other stuff (paper, plastic)
as I go. Completely random.
Now, here's the interesting
part that I haven't pointed out to you yet, but it is apparently
critical: Up until I dry the painting, I
avoid making eye contact with the image. I don't look at it. Why?
For some reason, it doesn't
seem to work if I look beforehand. So, only as I am
'done' and drying the painting do I take a peek. Weird, huh?
But apparently necessary.
Somehow these images appear,
seemingly out of nowhere, definitely out of no conscious or
deliberate effort on my part. Though it may seem difficult to believe, I
really do NOT insert anything. The images come forward by
whatever occurs during the process I just described to you. All I do
is tidy up an area or line so that the image is more easily
seen by others. But that is ALL I deliberately and consciously
contribute. And sometimes there is simply nothing there at
all, as though the invisible magical camera of images beneath my
plastic failed to lure any forms into it's range.
But when there
are images and forms, they are amazing. In fact, I continue to see
images arise in the pictures as time goes on. I missed the
large angry man's face in the center of 'The Dream' for quite some
time (over a year) until I was standing back far enough to notice
it. And others often point out images that I never noticed
before.
So, what will you see?
Apparently, that often depends on you. I hope you enjoy these
mysterious watercolors. I find them amazing and inspirational
- further 'proof' that there is certainly more to what we think we
know than meets the eye.
If you would
like copies of any of these images, both poster prints and canvas
reproductions are now available in
my store,
as well as other neat items with their images, like t-shirts, coffee
mugs, mouse pads, key chains, tote bags, even mp3 player speakers
believe it or not. And more items for your amusement will be
added soon.
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Click here
for unASLEEP'S Watercolor Store, where both poster prints and canvas
reproductions are available, as well as other merchandise with these
curious images.
To see watercolors, click on video screen icon to see video tour of painting, or click
on magnifying glass below to see full-screen images. Enjoy!
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