Current Work in Progress - Abstract Watercolor

I usually don't work on a full sheet of watercolor paper.  You can see how much of my work table a full sheet takes up.  I cannot walk round to see the painting from various angles, so I went to the hardware store and got a sheet of acrylic, and I work on that. I can pick up the damp painting as it lays on the sheet, and put that down on the floor, turn it around, see how it looks.  There is the cost issue with framing as well, but I had a mat someone gave me, so that is free, and I'll just use coupons from the newspaper to get metal sectionals.  Anything this size will need acrylic instead of glass, for weight and safety, so that will be more. Sigh. This is why I usually work smaller.

I have mixed feelings about doing projects with my weekly painting class.  I enjoy getting out of the house, like the people very much.  But unlike many of the other women (men rarely attend), I do paint at home, and I have lots of projects in my mind on which to work.  I don't particularly need an assignment, though I enjoy seeing demonstrations of various techniques.  This one started with lots of wet watercolor, and all sorts of texturing elements: plastic wrap, gauze, twine, even metal washers.  After that dried I drew in circles, and painted both inside and outside the overlapping figures to emphasize them.  Then I started adding things like Japanese papers, some of the stained gauze, even small bits of paper doilies, and tissue paper.  I'm not sure if I love it, and there will be a dozen similar ones that will show up in Art League shows in the next year, which is not so good.  Still, someone may fall in love with the colors, or like the abstract design, which is totally open to personal interpretation, which is good.

I have decided that my favorite, and best work, comes from my own brain, a topic or scene that I've been thinking about, with techniques that serve the subject and the feeling I have about it, rather than just showcasing a technique another artist has developed and taught in local workshops.  Or maybe that's not an original thought at all, but rather one from the book I'm still reading, The Art Spirit, by Robert Henri.  Since I'm not a football fan, maybe tonight I'll see what else Henri has to say on the subject.