Saturday, February 20, 2021

Loose Watercolor Style (Not Really Me?)

One thing I have noticed about watercolor artists I “follow” and/or try to learn from (tutorials, etc.): Even the professionals sometimes veer away from their “signature” style, perhaps for a break, perhaps because their followers or students pressure them to do a different style. Whatever the reason, I’ve decided that if they can do it, I can do it. 

Here’s what I’m saying: I have determined that loose watercolor is not really my style. But sometimes doing a piece with that style does provide a bit of a break from routine for me.

So, I occasionally step outside the box of more controlled painting, into the “loose” arena. 

More on why it is NOT my preferred style: I have always thought it was somewhat paradoxical for someone to say, “Try to relax.” If you have to try, you are not relaxing. You can’t really relax while working at relaxing. In the world of art, when I attempt a piece in a loose style, it’s like trying to relax. “Loose” is antithetical to my way of thinking/doing just about anything. (For that reason, maybe it’s a good thing for me as a stretching exercise.)

Now, I will say that even my attempts at using the loose style are NOT attempts to use the extremely loose, watery, runny style that many artists can do with beautiful results. Even my attempts at loose are illustrative, a fun style that is loose when compared to a very controlled style, but still somewhat controlled. My attempts at the other style (controlled and more detailed—more ME), are still not the total realism that makes people wonder if your art is actually a photograph. So perhaps I’m usually more in the middle, though leaning strongly toward controlled and realistic.

The last couple of days I have taken a break from my usual style and completed a few pieces “just for fun.” However, referring back to my observation about “try to relax,” I will admit that even these pieces that are loose (and supposedly more “fun”) were not really as much “fun” for me as trying to create a controlled and more detailed piece. Still, a break.

Here are the three loose pieces I created in the last couple of days.






For comparison, here are some of the more “controlled” pieces I have done in the last couple of weeks. Note: still not total realism, but not loose or illustrative either.











Next I will complete my January scrapbook pages and then back to more watercolor practice.

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