#95: My student asked, so I figured, Why not? Experimenting with Brusho

In March, one of my students who LOVES to buy art supplies, brought me some Brusho and asked me to play with it then show her how to use it.  I'd never heard of it so I did a little bit of research and began experimenting, using the beautiful jonquils just then blooming in our yard as my subject.

Brusho is a powder that comes in small containers. You're supposed to poke a hole into the top of the container so you can shake the powder out to put it on paper.  It's highly concentrated and very intense, so not much is needed.  It can be applied dry to dry paper which you then spray with water, or dry onto wet paper where it spreads on its own.  It spreads more or less, depending on how wet the paper is.  The first picture was done to give me a chance to understand a bit about how the Brusho reacts in general.  I discovered quickly that the colors are vibrant to the point of glaring. I like a bit more subtlety in my colors.

Below you can see the small jars of pigment and the start of a drawing.  I used pencil to draw the jonquils onto watercolor paper then wet the paper and sprinkled the appropriate color Brusho into the various areas.

 I then re-drew my drawing using a Micron 01 pen, a waterproof, very thin-line, permanent marker, to re-establish the flowers and foliage.

 I decided to try to deepen the background to make the jonquils stand out more, but decided it was too much. I didn't like the mess I'd made so I cut out the flowers and put them on a black background.
I wasn't so crazy about that either - the contrast was too stark - so I put it on a very different, weird background - the red and tan striped paper. I painted a plastic cup around the flowers and splashed a bit more Brusho around the flowers and called it done.

#95
Spring Flowers
Brusho, watercolor, collage, multimedia

#88: Waiter's Disapproval turns to Waiter's Delight through Art

In Paris, the City of Light, thanks to my friends' predilection for coffee, we spent a fair amount of time sitting in cafe's, watching the people go by, enjoying a rest from all the activity. I don't drink coffee, and I tend to push myself quite a lot and to forget to rest, so sitting in a cafe was different for me! Not bad at all - just different!

After going to a fabulous market near the Bastille our second day in the city, it was definitely time to take a load off our feet, so we went to a crowded cafe nearby. Karen and Gerlinde ordered coffee.  I asked for water. The waiter told me that wouldn't work - I needed to consume something.  I shrugged and figured he just wouldn't bring me anything. I'd sit and enjoy the company. 

A few minutes later, he did bring me water and was fairly nice about it, though he didn't put it down with a flourish.

I took out my sketchpad, watercolors, and brushes, and began to paint the scene in front of me. To my delight, Karen and Gerlinde did the same.  It felt like a dream come true - sitting in a cafe in Paris, sketching the scene before me.  I was tickled to bits!

The cafe had red chairs, red tables, red cups, and we had coincidentally bought red anenomes at the market to put in our apartment to brighten it up. I really enjoyed painting the bright red elements.

The waiter returned about 30 minutes later and saw I was using the water he'd brought to wash my brush out with. Suddenly he was totally delighted! He grinned and mimicked posing and asked me to paint his picture, "The Waiter"! I'd worried he might be pissed I was misusing their glass, so it made me really happy that he was thrilled and played along so well.  It made me think of the days when Paris was the center of the art world and starving artists paid their bills at the cafes and restaurants by drawing pictures on napkins and placemats for the propietors who quasi-supported them. It was very fun being a part of that for a brief fantasy-rich moment!

#88, Waiter's Delight
Watercolor
6"x9"

Paris, City of Light, near sunset.

Sainte Chappele, my favorite building in Paris, in the evening as night falls,
as we prepare to listen to a concert of Baroque setting in the most
beautiful setting imaginable.

#87: Monet's famous Japanese bridge. Not my most successful product, but fabulously wonderful process!

When Gerlinde, Karen, and I went to Paris in March, we decided to take a daytrip to Claude Monet's most fabulous creation - his home an garden in Giverny. It was a perfect blue-sky Spring day with a touch of coolness in the air with the plants just beginning to send out shoots, leaves, and flowers. The site had only been opened for 2 days so far this season so there were very few visitors. We had the place almost to ourselves - well, relatively speaking! That famous Japanese bridge was only very rarely free of people taking selfies or having others photograph them (I'm definitely included in that number!)

I love the way the trim all around the room, and
 even on the furniture is painted a darker color.
I don't know that I would be so bold!
(I also don't have such ornate,
beautiful trim!)

The yellow dining room. Everything was yellow other than the
floor! There were also different shades of yellow here, like
in the blue room, but they were less noticeable here.
This felt very much like a room for a large family.  I could
almost hear their voices echoing off the walls.  (He had 2
children, his second wife brought 6 into the marriage - BIG
family!)

The kitchen! Blue tiles. Huge stove. Large room. I covet his
kitchen!

I also want these pots, shiny
copper bottoms all lined up in size
order. So beautiful!!

We toured Monet's fabulous, huge studio where he painted the gigantic water lily series which he donated to the French state and which can be found installed at l'Orangerie. Then we went to his house - what a fabulous home! It was nothing short of inspiring to see how he chose to decorate it - very bright and colorful rooms full of light and art. He collected Japanese prints and had them hung in many of the rooms on all the walls.  Of course, he also hung his own works, as well as those of his friends.  The ones hung there now are copies, but it gives the feel for how it would have looked with his works in progress and finished works all over the house.  

Gerlinde and I are standing by his bedroom window by his
desk. There is a simliar window by his bed. He awoke to
this view each day he was home and died in this room, with
this view just outside.  That sounds pretty close to heaven
already.

Karen was nice enough to take a picture
of me pretending to paint at Monet's
easel. That was heady stuff!  I WISH!!

The views from the rooms were stunning! They all looked out onto his gardens which were his other creations. I'd read about his gardens and had looked at pictures in books, but I never got a sense of how they were laid out. It was wonderful seeing them!

A boat just like this shows up in many of
Monet's paintings.  It was so easy to imagine
him here painting. Glorious!

This small creek wound grace-
fully beside the larger pond.

To try to give you a sense of it: you can see his house at the top of this post. Behind the house is the lane that goes through the village. I didn't notice any windows at all looking onto the lane. All the windows are directed towards the gardens. The formal, symmetrical gardens with many trellises for hanging roses, wysteria, etc. are directly in front of the house. They extend maybe 50 yards.

Part of the garden in front of his house

 Then there is a high wall.  We were directed to the right where there is a tunnel that goes under the road and emerges into the second garden, a much less formal one, where the pond is. There the plants appear less formally planted, but I have a feeling that they are every bit as carefully placed. Weeping willows, wysteria hanging from the famous bridge, azaleas, rhododendrons, bushes, shrubs, tulips and other seasonal blooming flowers, and, of course, the water lilies (which weren't yet in bloom when we were there).  There is a path all the way around the pond along with several secondary paths which branch off from and lead back to the primary path. The views from each aspect were stunning and made me want to stay for months painting, drawing, gazing, absorbing.

I am aware that the house and gardens have both been refurbished since Monet's time, and I believe the pond has even been enlarged, so they may not be completely faithful to his times, but I think there were great efforts made to be true.  I'm so glad we went!  It was a wonderful day with perfect weather!

Portender of what's to come!

After we had gone all the way around the pond, we decided to rest for a moment on one of the benches set there for just that purpose. I couldn't help myself - I got out my watercolors and journal and began to paint! The scene was too gorgeous to NOT at least try to paint. Gerlinde did the same. Karen served as cheerleader and photographer for our process.  For the next hour or more, we sat in the perfect sunshine and drew arguably the most famous artist's garden in the world.  As I worked, I felt very good about my art, enjoyed what I was doing, liked my results.  When I was finished, I felt chagrinned - it hadn't turned out as well as I wanted it to.  I made excuses - I'm not good at plein air, watercolor isn't my medium - I can't do it very well, I needed more time. I could have done it better in pastels, especially from a photo.  Any and all of that may be true, but, really, it just doesn't matter.  I had a wonderful time working on the piece. It was very fun when people came by and commented. It filled my heart with joy to create in Monet's garden. Period. Full stop.  The results just aren't that important.  (Though, honestly, I do wish they were better!)

When I got home from Paris, I found out from my brother that he and my mother had been to Giverny together quite some years ago. They actually sat in the exact same place and also painted!  When I visited my mother last week, she showed me the painting she did there. THAT was what I'd wanted mine to look like!  Mom is one of the best watercolorists I know.  It was great seeing her version of what I'd tried so hard to capture! Maybe one day she and I will go back there and she'll show me how to do watercolor like a pro like she does!

#87
My version of the famous Japanese bridge, 3/2019

and my mother's beautiful painting from 2004.
Watercolor by Emma Lou Marchant Martin.

#21-28 of 100 Creations in 100 Days: Visual Journal Explorations

#21

#23 from a fabric design by Knoll 

#21-24 are images I drew/copied from artwork I found on Pinterest.  I am drawn to patterns and lines and Zentangles and these were variations on those.  Eventually I'll incorporate more lines and patterns into my paintings - when I figure out how to do it!  But for now at least I can have the pleasure of doing them separately!

#22

#24

I had suggested to one of my students that she try copying some drawings by the Masters as a way to improve her observational and drawing skills.  I liked the suggestion so much that I decided to take it on myself!  Vincent Van Gogh used a quill pen or some other kind of ink pen when doing his drawing, but I didn't have that available so I used a couple of markers with wide and narrow points instead.  He is a true master!  I learned a lot from doing this - about his marks, his choices, his different kinds of strokes.  The trick now will be to include them in my own drawings!

#25 Apres Vincent

#26 Looking at Her

On our way to Wintergreen Ski Resort, we stopped at Tuckahoe Antiques in Nelly's Ford. I bought some antique postcards there then had the fun of playing with them in my visual journal over the course of the weekend.  #26 combines one of the postcards with a woven image I made of my husband.  It looks like he is oogling the girl, so I named the piece "Looking at Her".  I like the juxtaposition, but it does Chris an injustice as he would never, ever look at a woman like that - unless it was me!  He's the kindest, most appropriate man ever.  But the images worked together, so I'm sticking with them for now!

#27

I took my students to the museum last week and asked them to look for patterns throughout the galleries.  I have posted about that before.  At Wintergreen, I took the time to add watercolor to the images I'd drawn just because it felt good to explore what they would look like.  I enjoy having this set of images to use for documentation and for reference to include in my work.

#28

When I created the CitraSolv/watercolor tree, I first cut out a tree to use as a template. This is that tree juxtaposed against some watercolor paper I'd used long ago for templates of leaves which I used as stencils.  It was fun exploring how they'd work together.  I chose this weekend to not adhere tightly to what I would normally think was "right" or "OK" and instead pushed my boundaries and explored how things looked.  I enjoyed trying new things and doing things I wouldn't normally - like putting the pink flowered pattern together with the tree and the leaf stencils - I had to release my usual judgments about what would work together to let myself do this.  Ends up I like what happened!  Who knew that exploration and boldness could lead to cool results??!