December 2014 marked the beginning of my daily creative practice. Since then, I have been intentionally and methodically studying lettering, typography, mark making, calligraphy, and their intersection with sketching and graphic marks. You’d think I knew my next step in terms of my academic research agenda. But, no. In many ways my next steps still seem blurry and foggy.
That said, the study abroad to Italy gave me the opportunity to reacquaint myself with a dear but a little neglected practice of mine: watercolor painting. I made the decision to focus on my sketchbook instead of sketching on the iPad for several reasons. One, my sketchbook was small (about 5 inches by 7 inches) so I could carry it with me to the lobby or the terrace with my bag of supplies. And second, one of the classes I teach is the mixed media travel sketchbook. I reasoned that if I sketched, my students would sketch too. As it happened, we had a few days when we were sketching together totally unplanned. It is still one of my fondest memories from Orvieto.
After I arrived home, there was a moment of a “now what” feeling. I took one of my sketchbooks and continue to use watercolors. I wrote about that “now what” feeling here. Somehow and in a quiet but certain way the search for watercolor utopia found its way into my bag of things I want to explore or I am curious about. Thus, I found myself making the decision to practice watercoloring intentionally and methodically just like I did ten years ago in December 2014. Needless to say, the rabbit hole I have dived in has been deep.
It is hard for me to put my lettering practice on hold even for a little time. I am so committed to growing as a typographer and letterer that it feels like a betrayal to focus on something else. But, something was calling me, rather compelling me.
I have found that dealing with watercolor is like dealing with curly hair: it is extremely sensitive to the weather and of course to water.
The process of exploring and experimenting with watercolors has exposed me to many lessons, as you might imagine. The most important of these lessons is that watercolor mastery relies on really understanding how it works. This sounds easy because of all the mediums, watercolor seems to be the least intimidating. Therein lies its trickery. In my experiments I have found that dealing with watercolor is like dealing with curly hair: it is extremely sensitive to the weather and of course to water. Thus, less is more.
Of course like any other medium, each artist has its style and preferred method of application. Exploring and playing are critical to understand and get a feel for the medium. There is no substitute for getting our hands dirty. Just like there is no substitute for reading about how experts treat the medium.
There are two artists that have inspired me to really dive in to gain a mastery. One of them was Olga Koelsch. Her application of watercolor is so delicate and precise. She makes beautiful transparent flower petals one on top of the other. When I saw her work, I was mesmerized. My curiosity intensified. She is very meticulous, delicate, careful, patient, and takes her time. If you know me, then you know that some of these attributes are not in my wheelhouse.
My tendency on the other hand, has been to adopt methods that force me to use chance as a starting point. Thus, until I saw Olga’s work, I had not started a work of watercolor with a definite drawing. I usually define the object after creating a monoprint mixing colors randomly. After I saw Olga’s work, I started to practice with sketching out an object.
The other artist that compelled me is Ann Blockley. Her work contrasts Olga’s in significant ways but her mastery of the watercolor is just as stellar. Ann’s work uses more apparent randomness. I say random because when one sees and reads about her process is clear that she uses the unpredictability of the watercolor to her advantage.
The most frustrating thing in the creative process is when you are aware, painfully aware of what you want to achieve but your habits, approach, and patterns betray you.
I am a designer. I have been trained to use a grid, visual associations, and most importantly, have a concept. When I started watercolors, some years ago, I wanted to explore things in a different way than my usual design or teaching work. But when I saw Olga’s work something clicked in me. I wanted, no, I coveted the kind of mastery she had achieved. I want to understand watercolor to use to my advantage, to, as an ironic as it sounds, control it.
Watercolor painting has a mind of its own but once one understands how it behaves and how treacherous it is, then you can use that knowledge against it. It has been an interesting journey. The most frustrating thing in the creative process is when you are aware, painfully aware of what you want to achieve but your habits, approach, and patterns betray you. To break the patterns, one has to spend time practicing, observing, studying, and above all, reflecting on both how the people you are looking up to do it and what are you doing that holds you back. It is like the design process: find the problem, identify the factors that contribute to the problem, research ideas and examples, and practice solutions.
Below are images of my studies from when I started to the latest. By the way, I post daily on my Instagram if you want to follow along.
This is the first full sketchbook I did after arriving from Italy. This is when I made the decision to focus on watercolor this summer. You can see I am still using my patterns and methods.
In this sketchbook I am venturing into other approaches. They are clumsy and a tad unrefined experiments, but I am learning as I go.
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These pictures above are from my new watercolor sketchbook. I am still trying to find my utopian mastery of the medium.
I will keep you posted as how things go. And by the way, if you are interested in any of these as prints, send me a message, text, email, or DM on Instagram. Or if you want to have the original, let me know. :-)
Love,
Alma