When an artist dies, he or she leaves behind a stack of paintings---finished and unfinished. The artist's family has to decide what to do with all of the artist's paintings, brushes, and paints. In the case of Portland artist Carol Winchester, who died in March of 2015, her family decided to have a huge sale and donate the proceeds to one of Carol's favorite organizations, the Watercolor Society of Oregon (WSO). Since i am also a member of this group, I received an email about the sale. I wasn't sure what I would find, but what caught my eye as soon as I walked in the room were Carol's unfinished pieces---watercolor papers with a few lines or blobs of color on them. I knew they had potential, and I snapped them up right away.
Now the hard part---how to develop them. Since it was spring, I was in the mood for marbling in acrylics on paper. With no subject matter in mind, I set to work and began marbling. In some cases, the results were rather remarkable. Her line work peeked through the mass of colors I used, and later when I went to develop the paper further, I saw what looked like a cluster of of birds--overlapping in very odd ways, but birds, nonetheless. Allowing the lines to be my guide, I created a painting I call "Find the Birds".
Here is a step by step look at how my painting "Find the Birds" (acrylic marbling on paper, 14 x 20") came together:
Now the hard part---how to develop them. Since it was spring, I was in the mood for marbling in acrylics on paper. With no subject matter in mind, I set to work and began marbling. In some cases, the results were rather remarkable. Her line work peeked through the mass of colors I used, and later when I went to develop the paper further, I saw what looked like a cluster of of birds--overlapping in very odd ways, but birds, nonetheless. Allowing the lines to be my guide, I created a painting I call "Find the Birds".
Here is a step by step look at how my painting "Find the Birds" (acrylic marbling on paper, 14 x 20") came together:
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