Coloring in - WIP

This WIP landscape was inspired by work of  Carolyn Lord. I saw her work in the most recent Watercolor Artist magazine, and thought I'd try a landscape "her way" ( a friendly forgery!) to see if the technique resonated with me and could get me past my fear of landscape failure.  It's her use of discrete shapes ('shape painter'!) that appealed.

I found one of my favorite vacation photographs to use as a source, and did several drawings to get the composition right, then used my light table to create a shape-focused version, tracing the key and interesting shapes I'd made.  Even though the paper is 300 lb rough (bought for a workshop and never used) I was able to use the light table to transfer the design onto it.

And I'm very glad I did, because just about at that point I managed to trip over my own feet, break two ribs, and pretty much ruin the rest of the week (month? months?) for creative energy.   I've found out that sitting and lying down are the MOST painful, so when I've had the energy,  I've been standing at the kitchen counter to internet surf, or standing at my studio's high counter to just start filling in the colors in this.  Like my own personal coloring book, and I'm just about that serious about it.   How restful and healing this has been. And, since it's well outside my normal work, there's no pressure, I have less invested in the results.   I thought I'd share it as a WIP, and so you'd know to expect to see much less work of mine here than usual, for a while.

But, blog friends,  be warned: with all this time on my hands, I'm watching YOU!  Keep busy and keep posting paintings to entertain me, please!