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Documenting a period in my development that could become pivotal

Monday, March 15, 2010

No waste water, no paint rags, watercolor painting on the Rotterdam cruise ship

For thirty days I roamed about the ship and shore excursions with folded accordion watercolor paper in my purse or pocket. The paper had been cut folded and tinted. Each separate accordion folded paper was labeled with a day's location.
I love the immediacy of the experience I derive in making this type of journal. Drawing and painting this way makes me feel the power of moving my finger along the contour of distant rocks as if I were touching them. I am very enthusiastic about seeing through the end of my pencil or brush or pen. I stay longer in one place experiencing the changing light and color of the sparkling waters and the graceful movement of marine life.
With paper in hand a few pens or pencils I started my small paintings to be finished in our state room or other locations on ship. Sometimes I carried my Sakura Koi Water Colors pocket field sketch box and spray bottle on some shore excursions but on this trip I needed to watch my steps on uneven streets so I did not paint off ship.
Before the trip I tried my watercolor sketch box and found the blues were all cool and the red and yellow not as intense as I would like. I supplemented the limited color palette with dabs of Winsor red, ultramarine gouache and titanium white. For a pure yellow, the Caran d'Ache crayons were not useful. I could have used perhaps a yellow fine point Sharpie poster paint pen.
The synthetic water well brushes were difficult to fill and the water ran our too quickly. I used the brushes without water stored in them. I didn't need an open container of water because of the properties of the synthetics. To make the paint wet enough I used a small spray bottle to mist my palette and paper. The synthetic fiber of the brush cleaned off on the Koi synthetic sponge. The paint clogged sponge made good grays on my paper. If there was too much sprayed water when I was finished the sponge soaked it all up so I could safely close the box.
At last I was free of dirty rags and spilling waste water. I feel satisfaction because have a personalized memory journal and my painting did not add any pollution to the ship or ocean.

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