"Sea Breeze"
6x8 watercolor and ink
I'm a traditional painter and I like that kind of work but, for quite a while now my inner abstract artist has been trying to emerge. I love fabric and paper art but the thing is I don't have a vision of what I want to create.This month's GirlsJustWannaPaint challenge had me thinking about what, besides food or drink, is delicious and I am most viscerally affected by scents. Lilacs, my mother's perfume, smoke from a wood fire, autumn leaves, but one of the most affecting scents is the ocean breeze.
This piece began with light washes of watercolor on 140 Hot Pressed Arches paper. I used Holbein silver watercolor. Talk about delicious colors, Holbein has an exceptional range.
As I worked, I mixed a little of the silver with my color and although the effect isn't as obvious in this photo, it really lends a lovely shimmer to the whole painting.
With this non traditional approach I was uncertain as to whether to add to this and at this time I prefer it as is. The beauty is, that I could take this further a step at a time, which is how the journey begins.
I feel like I cracked the code!


