Pua Melia : Watercolor 22″ x 15″
A lei worn with aloha can be for hello, good-bye, love, and celebration, or…just because…like now, just because it is the start of July which brings back World Watercolor Month started by the talented Charlie . After all the fun adventures last year, thought it would be a good time to come back and enjoy the celebration among friends near and far.
Happy World Watercolor Month everyone, let the fun begin!
Time flies when there is fun to be had, and July has done just that.
Under a darkening sky that seems to want to paint the yard in its own version of watercolor, Charlie’s challenge of painting a watercolor a day to celebrate the First Annual World Watercolor Month comes to a close.
Of course that doesn’t mean painting and creating daily comes to a halt, maybe just not on 11″ x 15″ sheets of watercolor paper. A return to the sketchbook for a daily routine while a more slower pace with anything larger in size seems to be in order.
It has been a delightful month, and I am both inspired and left in awe of those around the world as well as in our blogging community who came together to share their love of watercolors on a daily basis. My souvenir from this wonderful adventure is a neat pile of 31 quarter sheets holding painting ideas, experiments, and many things I want to improve upon. The last group to be added to July’s works are from this past week and 2 days. Influenced by passing storms, and playing with fanciful notions, these final sketches in watercolor will remind me of options on approach with backgrounds and maybe a couple of thematic ideas.
The rain is falling, creating little puddles of reflected color in the yard. It makes me think of the puddles of paint in my palette that need to be cleaned up and the brushes waiting to be rinsed and put aside to dry, …until the next adventure in watercolor.
The sky looks like a pale under painting and the air is heavy with pending rain.
This week has been full of challenges, namely weather and time. But keeping in mind this month is about playing in watercolors and having fun, the challenges are turned into opportunities for creative thinking…well, that was the idea anyway. There were still moments I wished for more time in the day to spend on a painting, moments where I kept whispering to myself, “I have time…just a little more…”, then looking over my shoulder and half expecting to see a white rabbit shaking their pocket watch at me and telling me to hurry it up and move on.
So this week’s paintings are more like doodles of ideas that I might revisit in the future, and a fun exercise in finding moments to stop and allow my imagination a little time to play with paint.
Now where did that rabbit go?…
It is Aloha Friday in the islands and the second week of the World Watercolor Month challenge seems to have rushed by like ocean trade winds sweeping along the shore line.
This week was full of experimenting, playing with colors, going in all sorts of directions, and asking myself “How much is too much and how little is too little?” It will be fun to look back at the end of the challenge and see what studies can be developed for larger paintings, and what sorts of ideas or patterns emerged. But until then there is fun to be had while paint brushes dance along the water’s edge across paper shores.
Outside the room where I usually paint, there is a boisterous Tithonia Diversifolia, sometimes called a tree marigold, Mexican sunflower, Japanese sunflower, or Nitobe chrysanthemum. Throughout the day the tall shaggy plant dances to passing breezes and seems to collect birds of all types. Yesterday a small flock of petite sepia brown birds joined in the afternoon dance, hopping among the leaves and dried seedpods of the sunflower tree. Yesterday, was also “Draw a Bird Day”, celebrated by our blogging community on the 8th of every month and currently being hosted by Laura at Create Art Every Day. These little feathered visitors seemed to be volunteering as subject matter for a painting.
I am guessing, as they blended in so well with the dried leaves and managed to flit quickly from spot to stem, that they might be the African Silverbill, or Lonchura Cantans. Long known in the islands as the “Warbling Silverbill”, (which turns out to be a different species altogether and a whole different story), these tiny Silverbills are thought to have been released on the Big Island of Hawai’i in the mid 1960’s. Since then they have managed to fly across island channels and established themselves throughout the island chain. Considering they are roughly 3 inches in length, give or take, that they navigated over rough ocean waters just boggles my mind with admiration and amazement.
Always a welcome distraction to the day and a delight to watch, they often travel in little groups sitting on tall stalks of grass and plucking seeds or nesting material, or visiting the shaggy sunflower tree outside my window and making the most of what it has to offer.
A bit late in the posting, taking time from today’s painting to finish what was started yesterday. These small feathered charmers are a subject I would like to revisit again, maybe even figure out if they are Silverbills or some other bird like a Waxbill instead. Any excuse for taking a time-out to sit and keep company with these tiny warbling little birds.
African Silverbills…maybe?
Like any new adventure, the first step on a journey is usually made with confidence and determination, and if you are me, the next few steps might be less graceful with a mixture of pirouettes and stumbles. No matter, where water is involved any landings will be light and refreshing, or so I keep telling myself.
I also keep telling myself to “Let go, loosen up, and have fun,” this month’s self-motivating mantra for the duration of the 31 day challenge.
Doing studies, nothing serious, seems to be an easy generalized direction to start off with, and it is fun to see things evolve, to experiment and sometimes just goof off. Day #2 is a classic example of a painting going sideways very quickly, but it became a good opportunity to doodle and play with inks. So far so good, the first week of the World Watercolor Month has been relaxing and educational.
The days tumble one into the other, a few moments here and there, a swish of the brush, and water carries dreams of colors across doorways made of paper for a month long journey of fun and exploration.
The journey so far:
July has arrived and along with it the first annual World Watercolor Month celebration. Charlie at Doodlewash, who initiated the World holiday, has proposed 31 days of painting with watercolors to celebrate, and along with artists from around the World, it seems like a fun thing to do.
It all begins with one step, or in this case…one painting. Happy World Watercolor Month!
July 01: Holding a white plumeria
White plumeria
Sweetens gentle ocean trades
Singing island songs
-hkmb
(With no theme for the month it is just play and have fun, make mistakes and splash around. Arches #140 CP; 11″x15″ using only a flat 1″ brush with transparent Daniel Smith and M. Graham watercolors…and plenty of coffee. lol.)
Art and Moondreams 