Inhabiting the studio after our student painters left this evening, and listening to my new favorite alto player, David Sanborn…”Hearsay.” And John McLaughlin with the Joe Farrell Quartet…Farrell, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, and Jack de Johnette…”Follow Your Heart.” My contribution: “24 Narcissus,” watercolor on Strathmore sketch, 18″ X 24.” My term for this kind of spontaneous, direct brush drawing is the “big brush exercise.” I’m finding that doing them builds skills, perceptual abilities, and stamina in a lot of areas where a watercolor painter needs those things. For example: the ability to translate “forms” into “flat pieces;” the ability to pre-visualize and map out the placement of major shapes without any preliminary drawing; and of course, the ability to render forms directly with the brush.
24 Narcissus
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