Seascape Artist

90 lb watercolor paper is just too thin for me to use for much painting … I have a heavy touch with the water many times and I do not strech my paper so for actual painting, I generally use 140 lb cold press watercolor paper .. block or loose sheets in a pad.

BUT … I do keep 90 lb in my studio … for sketching ideas alone or with my grandson. Regular drawing paper has a much different feel with colored pencils and it too is in my studio for when I need that type of paper for a project … but generally, in preparation for painting and generating pre-plannning ideas … actual watercolor paper is better for me … I don’t usually use much if any water on these sketches at all … it is about placement and variety of placement … I save the sketches and some are quite good so I tend to even use them for other collage projects.

I have found that different manufacturers of paper have a different touch and feel to their papers just like different brands of watercolor pencils are a bit different to use. When I plan the placement of a project painting using 90 lb paper, I know in advance that I am not planning to use water on it generally. I like the oclor of wateroclor pencils on watercolor paper usually better than colored pencil on drawing paper too. It reminds me somewhat of pastels … it has a softer more organic feel and look to the sketch where colored pencils appear harsher. Pastels smudge too much for me though I have used them a bit … and the dust from pastels are not good for me – makes me sneeze and feel nauseous if I am around them too much. For me, watercolor pencils dry are a very nice sketching tool … since I like working with color and I cannot find any of the colored charcoal pencils any more … I am quite happy to have discovered a brand of watercolor pencils that work similar to pastels without the dust and similar to the colored charcoal that I cannot find anywhere these days … I’m not even sure if they still make it – I have not even found them on the Internet!

Using real watercolor paper and pencils in the planning stage for me has an added bonus benefit … if it is good and I like the finished product as is, I have a finished painting that I can mat, frame and hang without worrying about fixatives … I am NOT good at using fixatives … I always get them all over the place and the spray coat is never even so it makes my painting blotchy when I have used them in the past.

We all know how scary this turbulent economic crisis is for us as people trying to live normal lives let alone trying to create art amid the fear, unhappiness and horrible events such as the AIG Bonus Scandal.

Yes I called it a scandal … normal people working normal jobs do not get hundred thousand let alone million dollar bonuses from companies generally speaking and those at the top of those financial pyramid schemes are the ones who already scammed billions of dollars out of the system and us … and now they are getting even more that will cost our great-grandchildren and possibly to many generations after them at the rate the Federal Government is now shipping them even more tax payer money (AKA more China Debt – do they own the entire country already anyway with what we already owe them?) … thanks President Obama … if you think you absolutely HAVE to get more of China’s money … I would much rather you sent the money directly to us U.S. taxpayers who could pay their bills … buy groceries to feed their families … make their mortgage payments … etc.

No one in Washington or Congress cared UNTIL it was announced to the United States taxpayers and suddenly because WE cared and are angry and quite vocal about it even standing in line at the grocery store … suddenly these jesters we call politicians care … note the business executives do not care …I’m guessing that some are frightened they might get lynched by an angry mob of their former friends and neighbors though when their names are finally announced so that to me is the reason some are giving the most current $$ back … not because they care but because they are terrified what will happen when their names become public.

What does this have to do with seascapes and art you may be asking?

For some artists this crisis has paralyzed their ability to create art at all … they are too scared … worried … petrified … to work on painting, drawing, etc while for others it has unleashed a tidal wave torrent of frenzied creative splendor in their work that rivals anything they have ever done before or possibly may do again.

How an artist reacts and responds to life and living shows in our artwork .. cessation of creating artwork speaks volumes just as new works gushing out like Texas oil rigs does … for me, I am somewhere in the middle … I am working on small projects in small bursts of creativity … mostly small portraits of palm trees but also learning new skills like scrapbooking.