Monday, November 16, 2009

Subduction in Art



A few posts ago I mentioned that I'd already gone through too many tortured metaphors and wasn't going to add one more: subduction. Subduction is the geological process where one plate slides under another. But what slides under eventually reappears in some way, generally volcanic. This is a rough generalization so don't go taking any geology tests based on my amateurish summary.

But it does strike me as appropriate to art. Much goes into the artist's wealth of experience and out it comes in some metamorphosed form. I mention this because I've done a lot of detailed pencil sketches recently as well as some very short and blunt watercolors.

The newest watercolor of a Lesser Yellowlegs tries to blend these two together. I'm not sure if it's done and still need to look at it some more. My intent in it was to have some of the detail and realism of the skecthes while also making it a lively watercolor painting.

I'm happy with it in many ways but also know all the parts that I'm dissatisfied with. I still need to decide whether to go back into it or to just spend that energy on a new painting.

I'm also including a few examples of different stages in the painting, going from the very earliest to the next to last.




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