Explaining why he still painted when his hands were twisted with arthritis…
“The pain passes, but the beauty remains.”
~Pierre Auguste Renoir
The Dance of Two Trees~
A magic coupling
Through mists they appear slowly
In watercolors dancing ~
In our life there is a single color, as on an artist’s palette, which provides the meaning of life and art.
It is the color of love. ~Marc Chagall
Love this. These trees appear to be arms, hands, reaching out and pulling in.
Hi suzicate,
thank you so much for your comment. it is so appreciated to read when someone sees as i do. it’s very gratifying because i never know what i am doing! xox
Sorry this got bumped out of order. Sometimes I do my replying when it comes up in the notification & other times I do it on the blog, like now so you got in after ronnie down there did.
Good morning Linda!
LOVE the the piece of the coupling trees!
And I have to say once again…..I ADORE your watercolors!
“The pain passes, but the beauty remains.”
~Pierre Auguste Renoir
Love that quote!
Have a lovely Sunday, my friend!
((((((((( You ))))))))
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Good morning Ron and thank you kindly. My paintings just happen to me and so this was a happy accident.
I too adore this quote for obvious reasons. One must never give up!
Much love, dear Ron. xoxox
Your ability to lay down forms on a white ground and then go back to contemplate your unconscious message to yourself is quite a marvel to me. That you found this magnificent pair of loving trees in sweet embrace is a wonder. As I may have told you before you’ve created a world tree paired – as they should be, of course. The colors and hinted details lost in spreading mist are very beautiful.
xoxoxo
Thank you, susan, as always your words mean so much to me. as i confessed i eventually totalled this lovely painting and looking at it now, wish i hadn’t but don’t want to try and salvage it. as you know, that’s nearly impossible with a watercolor. sigh… now i am working over birds…working over being keywords there. not happy i am thinking but mental note to self is don’t paint while sick. problem is, well, hasn’t been the most UNsick time for me, so carry on! xoxox
Watercolor is very unforgiving past a certain point. Some colors can be lifted but never completely and some not at all as you well know too. I always feel that no work is ever really wasted since every piece is a learning experience. I once painted a very large and detailed painting when I had chickenpox (age 42) while largely blind in my right eye because a pox on my eyelid had infected the cornea. Boy, was that a miserable experience but the painting was a beauty. Of course not everything I’ve ever done survived and all of them were done when I was quite well.
this sounds awful but a good distraction from your misery. at 42?? my my, i think i had it before i remember, thank god. then shingles….oh boy.
i wish i had not destroyed much of my earliest work but felt it best not to create strokes in my offspring…or spouse.
susan, as a watercolorist have you not ever done this with what comes up with the dried first glaze or two? it’s so much fun and often quite surprising. i would be so curious to see what you pulled out of your first splashes! but then again, you are such a fabulous illustrator/artist(i’ve never quite known what the difference is!) and i’m not sure you could use that skill painting this way. that might be extraordinarily difficult.
scratch that idea, my dear. as if you hadn’t as soon as you read it!
xox
Truth to tell I’ve never done that deliberately but what I always do is work out color tones on scraps of watercolor paper. Sometimes I find the results a lot more interesting than the piece that’s taking so much more thought and planning. Just for you I’ll try what you’ve suggested tomorrow.. on a somewhat smaller sheet
The most fun I ever had getting really loose (with artwork) was when I made some of the silk scarves. Some of them were painted, steamed, and painted again several times to get the results I wanted.
xoxo
good evening susan,
yes, definitely. as i was saying to mel, i am quite perturbed with this paper i’ve been using because i didn’t check the weight. it’s not quite as heavy because of being on the board but because of that, it can’t take as much of anything, including water so slurps it up like mad before i know it. well, knew it….. anyway, live and learn, eh? i can’t wait to see your little experiment….hope you read SEE there. 
haha, the scraps are more interesting? i think i read that right!
your scarves are gorgeous but never would i have imagined it was possible to be so forgiving with them…. that looks permanent!! in one fell swoop! xox
I love this! The trees seem so strong and happy, and the colors make me happy.
Hi Stacie,
Thank you so much. I am glad you left me your thoughts on this little piece. Please return soon!
you captured the spirit of these crone trees and their delight in the dance.! Be well and safe, dear one.
dear joss,
thank you so much. a lovely idea, crone trees. love it. be well and safe too, my dear and go GF well. xox
Let me see if I get this right…….you splash the colours on the paper and THEN go back to find what’s in it?
Wow.
It really IS a picture in a picture in a picture. And that you discover what’s in there…….amazing. No doubt I’d come up with all sorts of things, but being able to then transform the colours into dancing trees. Ummmm….yeah, not so much.
This one (darn–did you really scrap it?) is very cool. Seriously so. But it wouldn’t surprise me that it’s been scrapped. I watch the sister, who used to dabble with watercolours, do the same thing. She wasn’t satisified–ever, I swear. So much so that she’s sort of walked away from it for this period of time. Maybe she’ll go back to dabble again.
I’m hopeful the birdies one is taking flight (pun intended, sorta…..). It’s amazed me from the first time I saw it. And I enjoy finding ‘things’ in your work.
Bit icy here following the ice storm–but I’ve hope for melting. NOT that I’ll be going out in it. It did make for an amazing shiny world for a chunk of time.
Dear Mel,
i am very very good at it too since you have no idea how many paintings i’ve blown over the years. some i’ve saved with gouache but that’s still covering up all the lovely white of the paper… or the transparency of the color.
now.. til you’ve tried don’t be so sure…it’s fun, not stressful…at least that’s the idea. it can be frustrating at times since wc is a very unforgiving medium to work with. i happen to practice the art of “letting go”.
i move from this to acrylic to drawing to not making art at all. it also depends on my health because i can’t always stand and can’t always sit…a bit of a merry go round i guess when i type it out like that. i do love it tho and it’s a wonderful outlet for me.
birdies has taken a flight alright but it’s not turned out like i intended, they rarely do. what happened with that and some others i was working was i tried a new type of paper glued on a type of thick mat board and turns out it doesn’t have as much body as what i am used to so it absorbs color like mad, very quickly and before i know it, it’s there forever with no wiggle room and completely dried. so birds is still here and no, haven’t scrapped them, will post it but it won’t go further than that. it was fun to give it a go but am not loving it. and i didn’t know it and wasted money on 5 sheets so that probably bugs me the most. ah well, live and learn.
take care, stay warm…brrr, sounds very cold! xox
Well, it was cold–and then warm..LOL it’s the midwest–if you don’t like the weather, stick around a couple of hours, it’ll change. Last night I was blessed with (of all things in January!) a thunder storm, complete with awesome lightening.
Funny thing, Mother Nature!
I doodle sometimes, scribble a mess and then colour in what I see. I’m sure that sortakinda counts. LOL Not the artwork I’d want to pass off to the public though. Trust me on that one.
Letting go and living and learning. Forgive me that I nodded as it took five sheets. *laughing* Gotta love it! Probably woulda taken me a good dozen.
Now, trying to replicate what you lost/got stuck in….that could be a challenge in and of itself. One that I wouldn’t take on cuz I’m like that!
Every day’s a new beginning with new opportunities–and today will be an awesome one, no doubt. We had another thunderstorm this morning! How wonderfully bizarre!!
they scare me, we have so few here but being up here, when we have them, we seem inside them!
hoping you are right…coming down with a bug, grrrr…caught from my doc, of all people. be well, my friend. (((mel)))
Well–go figure. Where do sick people hang out at?
((((((((((( Linda )))))))))))))) REST. Feel better. Snuggle under those pretty doonas and just let life BE for a bit.
Thinking of you……
thinking he thought he vaccinated the whole town but he won’t let me have it cause of my health issues? k…
Voluptuous colors, shapes and movement. Outstanding. So much heart.
hi Gretchen,
glad you liked this..thank you for your kind comment! xx
Love it ❤it is really beautiful, trees shape and magnificent colours❤
dear violet,
thank you so much. ♥
Expressively gorgeous.
I do like the two trees very much. Such a great perspective in the painting.
George, thanks so much for your kind remarks. I appreciate them!
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