This particular original holds a dear space in my heart. It came to creation in the long-ago year of 2021, sometime between the departure of fall and the guerilla warfare of winter. Locked away in my room one evening I lit some candles, put on the speakers and unboxed my watercolor paints. Not knowing an abundance about watercolors and providing myself with zero minutes of research or google searches for helpful tips, I stubbornly snatched a piece of watercolor paper from my new pack and proceeded to tape it directly to the desk beneath, forever ruining the integrity of the "borrowed" desk. I looked down at the blank textured piece of paper while swirling my brush in water and proceeded to attack without a battle plan in sight. I had absolutely no idea where this would take me or what was going to appear, but I soldiered on without fear.
Where I found myself going was a relaxing sort of place, I had no expectations of results and was pleasantly surprised when I began to see a path forward. It seemed the peace of mind brought forth the image of coy fish in a pond. the different layers of blue set the sail towards a Japanese themed piece. So, I found my brush filled with the golds and yellows of the peaceful fish, tails finished with a flick and a flourish. Even with the presence of the coy fish I still did not get the feeling that the piece was fulfilled and so I sat and stared at it for some minutes as Mr. Banks (the household dog) wandered in to give his growling insights and encouragements. His verdict: most definitely not done.
After some huffing and hawing, when the watercolor layers found themselves dried out, I decided on what my next form of action would be-- adding more obvious movement to the water by adding in waving line spinning out from our coy fish friends. Deciding to add some yin to the yang I also opted to add some thin white lines to the coy fish themselves in contrast. I will admit, at this point Mr. Banks and I both were in agreement that this piece has found all its glory and was ready to be signed and sealed. Unfortunately, the gold pen I was haphazardly playing with did not share the same sentiment and kamikazed itself out of my unsuspecting hand and directly onto the newly minted painted leaving behind a glob of golden blob in the middle of the piece. Well, a few cuss words came to mind, a great tone of annoyance played a melody of "shouldn't have been playing with an open marker" without a grand ability to carry a tune in my head. I stopped, took a breath, opened my eyes and decided that perhaps it was the final method I didn't realize I had to add. So, I rolled up my sleeves, picked the traitorous golden brush pen back up and started creating random golden blobs throughout the pond. Feeling that it would make the most sense to also add the contrasting silver blobs just as I did for the black and white lines of movement. The end result added a dimension to the piece that was previously missing, and I found myself reaching for the white paint to add more subtle specks of white throughout the piece. The resulting shimmer catches the morning light in a way it never would have without these last finishing details.
And so, I found myself proudly boasting a piece that came from thin air and the random tendrils of my mind. Whenever I look at this piece, I feel a sense of soothing calm as I remember the coziness of the candles, swishing of water and gentle cursing of the pen gods above. Being a piece that is different than most of my works I felt like it needed its own moment in the spotlight.
Thank you for following me down memory lane and giving these colorful coy a moment of your time. I hope you enjoyed this week's anecdote, and I look forward to sharing another next.
As always,
Keep it offbeat!
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