Lift Off IMG_0967

Lift Off is an impressionistic interpretation of milkweed pods bursting open to expel the parachute-style seeds.  The predominate colors are Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Indian Yellow, Burnt Sienna and Permanent Magenta.  It was begun as a class demonstration to emphasize the importance of what some artists call "negative space", that space between objects in the foreground.  

I prefer to call this  "sacred space" as a tribute to my concept that everything on earth has life and spirit and the space in between objects is vital to the development of a painting.  To demonstrate that importance, I began by wetting the areas in between the milkweed plant sketch and floated my saturated colors into the puddle, allowing them to flow without manipulation.  This established the composition of the painting, gave it an uncontrived, fluid movement and maintained the intensity and sparkle of watercolors that are not brushed into the  paper or glazed over and dulled.