Watercolor:
Three Ways
Three approaches to watercolor by Susan Petty, Marilee Krause, and Randall David Tipton in our Works on Paper exhibition.
Susan Petty, Gathering, watercolor, 16x25 in., detail.
Susan Petty’s Gathering is a minimalist portrait of a small family of sycamores. A narrow palette of browns and greys is accented by a sprinkling of orange ochre leaves. Flat defines this painting. Shape meets shape to create the mottled bark. Depth is implied via a reverse chiaroscuro, the bright light of the blank paper serving as a background to shadowy tree forms. Up close, pencil lines define thicker branches, creating a network of twigs. The smooth hot press paper soaks up watercolors evenly and enhances the delicate lines.
Marilee Krause, Red Earth NM, mixed media, 7x7 in., detail.
Marilee Krause, Afternoon Rain NM, mixed media, 7x7 in.
Marilee Krause, Red Earth NM, mixed media, 7x7 in.
Marilee Krause uses a mixture of methods to create the energy of an afternoon walk in New Mexico in her miniature watercolors, Afternoon Rain NM and Red Earth NM. Wet on wet washes blend together in red dirt and green hills. Grey clouds bleed into blue sky. Dry, green strokes of paint lie on the top of textured cold press paper. Brush swipes convey the afternoon rain, and light breaks through the storm clouds in the form of blank paper. Texture adds to the tactile quality of the path and grasses, and to the atmosphere of the storm. Flying on top of the paper’s grain is a collage of a cut out bird, solid black, contrasting with the sky and land below.
Randall David Tipton, Dry Rivulet, watercolor on Yupo, 26x20 in., detail.
Randall David Tipton, Dry Rivulet, watercolor on Yupo, 26x20 in., detail.
Randall David Tipton, Dry Rivulet, watercolor on Yupo, 26x20 in.
Randall David Tipton’s Dry Rivulet is all about surfaces. Yupo paper repels water, enabling the watercolor to bead and pool on top, giving the river bed a pearl-like quality. Thicker matte strokes of painted grass grow up from the bottom of the painting. Long stripes of paint form an overhanging branch, cutting across the top. Translucent green watercolor becomes the light through the leaves. Intermingling of fluid, matte, tangled, and smooth, engulf the substrate and mirror the physical experience of an overgrown trail.
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