I googled “watercolor whimsy” and got this creature. (I can’t find a link to an artist.) Looking around, I see whimsy in art includes bright colors and rounded shapes, with faces drawn in juvenile proportion. Why not? I’m looking for some new pizzazz.

Strategy:

1. copy (knowing that I won’t).
2. Try this style with a different image. (For instance – Golden winged warbler

creation/session log:

1. I painted the main blocks of color, feeling very clunky, both in brushwork and color choice. The image includes some fine lines which I’m not able to do. The bird seems to be emerging, but it needs more work. My painting position today was somewhat uncomfortable.
2. I painted some more detail on the bird and started to paint the warbler. I decided to order some markers to see if I can get some fine lines. I don’t know if this will work. It’s an experiment. (Meanwhile I must wait until the markers are delivered.)
3. Today I played with my black Sharpie. I made 10 boxes that will someday be scattered down the newsletter where the “painting snippets” usually go. I can’t quite control the marker, (the marks skip and wobble) so I reminded myself to embrace whatever emerged. It was fun to do. I plan to add some watercolor later in the week when, I hope, I will also have colored markers available. [More drama with the markers: the electronic order was canceled. Buying them locally, I could only get eight colors. They are here now, so I can paint on Friday.]
4. I can’t use the acrylic markers we bought. They are too thick for the mouthstick pen holder, they require shaking up, and exerting pressure to make a mark. I rediscovered the watercolor markers I have. They have brush tips so they make wider marks. As with the brush, I don’t have complete control. I added some marker marks and more paint. Now things look overworked. What do I need to do to finish?
5. Used the brush and water to remove some of the unwanted paint around the birds and on the birds attempting to lighten the wings and head of the bird on the left. Time to stop.
6. Scanned the image and discovered how messy I’ve been! Lots of unwanted marks all over the page. When I cleaned them up, the birds looked much better, especially their feet.

Insights:

• This was truly an experiment. I feel like I learned a lot. Part of me wants to do it all again to see if I could improve. (I like Rachel Lankester’s definition of fail as first attempts in learning. Does that imply more attempts?) What would happen if I spent two months on each painting, doing images twice?
• I am puzzled over how to achieve the dimensionality in the original image – especially the layered look of the wings. How can I learn more? (Thought: look for similar images on YouTube how to videos?)
• While I don’t want to paint cute images, the idea of letting go of any attempt of realism attracts me.

Practicing reinvention once a year keeps me trying new things.