"When dawn spreads its paintbrush on the plain, spilling purple... ," Sons of the Pioneers theme for TV show "Wagon Train." Dawn on the mythic Santa Fe Trail, New Mexico, looking toward Raton from Cimarron. -- Clarkphoto. A curmudgeon artist's musings melding metaphors and journalism, for readers in more than 150 countries.

Monday, July 6, 2020

A simple word full of energy

"Flow," 5 by 8 watercolor, 140 lb Fabriano Artistico extra white cold press paper
"Flow."
Such a simple word, but full of energy in many contexts.
How to paint it? It was the daily prompt for #WorldWatercolorMonth by Doodlewash.
My first thought was water, flowing down streams, and as I experimented, I realized my brush was flowing also.
Then I looked up the word, which I've used in the past in teaching writing...stories should "flow," meaning they're not choppy, but easily lead the reader along.
More examples "flowed" from the word. One called it the mental state in which a person is busy in an activity and fully immersed in it. (That also applies to painting and the creation of all art, I think, because the world goes away.
Other examples included steady progress on a research paper, even a class session where students are activity involved. There were even tips on how to get flow.
I stuck with the water image, thinking back to my canoeing days. Then when I painted this, determined to use all the blues on my palette, I realized it could also be a representation of a mountain range? Obviously, landscapes flow to.
Anyway, it's a little abstract, and minimalist, letting my imagination flow with the brush. I used six blues, letting the water flowing in them create flow: Cerulean blue, Cobalt blue, Peacock blue, Prussian blue, Royal blue, Turquoise blue and  Ultramarine blue.

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