Jul 22, 2011

Company’s coming

Task Avoidance, 9x6" watercolor
In 2005 I enrolled in a Frank Webb workshop. See the signature on the bottom of the matted painting at top of today’s watercolor. Webb, like some of the other watercolorists with whom I’ve studied is a former student of famed watercolor artist Edgar Whitney. It was hard in the Webb workshop to know what came originally from Webb or what he was passing down from Whitney.

Calligraphic painting, Webb said, is about adjectives, not about nouns. By this he meant, if you’re doing a calligraphic painting that includes a roof, paint the shingles, not the roof.

Anyone who’s been in my house knows that the rooms inside are rich with adjectives. Every room is laden with adjectives that might lend themselves to my calligraphic style. So here’s the first of my Brenda’s House paintings. Hey, we got to do something while it’s too hot to go outside and too soon to worry about the company that will be here in two weeks.

3 comments:

  1. Brenda, this painting is fabulous. I love everything about it. Is that a piano on the right? Are you still coming South in Nov. and planning to teach here? Jennifer at the art shop said she had not heard from you.

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  2. Sorry, Jerry. Not a piano on the right. A cheap piece of office furniture. I only lasted in piano lessons three days. Couldn't stand the sound of myself.

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  3. Brenda,
    Beautiful!! I really like this one. Have admired your calligraphic style and can see where it can really make a difference. I am also learning that painting in oil is about painting the adjectives and not just the nouns. That came from Lori Putnam and my teacher Jim Richards:)

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