It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an artist in possession of good art supplies, must be in want of inspiration. Except lately, I have felt a little TOO inspired.
For anyone who follows along regularly on my Instagram, you know that I recently returned from a trip to Mexico, where I was lucky enough to be inundated with inspiration. We stayed at an "eco-resort" which not only had a great beach, but was covered in mangrove jungles (forests?), wildlife, and cenotes. It was, at least for me, an inspiration heaven; I have about 100 photos that I can barely tell apart because it's all different shots of jungle. But the spot that inspired and obsessed me the most, was the fact that our balcony overlooked a waterfall and a cenote.
It started with a drawing, trying to capture the one lone mangrove tree that chose the middle of the cenote to grow stubbornly out of:
Then expanded to multiple watercolour studies:
But I knew that my itch to capture this view would not stop until I was home and had all my supplies in front of me.
At first I thought that doing a piece with my watercolour markers and ink would be perfect; layers of watercolour reflecting the way the tree and leaves reflected in the water, with ink lines showcasing the rocky waterfall. But no matter what I did, it seemed to lack something. And so this morning, I turned to gouache.
I don't work in gouache often; I find I have trouble mixing colours with it (this is my own dilemma, it's not the gouache's fault) and I never feel like I'm using it properly, but sometimes it's easier to pull out quickly and do in a smaller working space (and is less messy!). But I do love the matte quality of gouache while still also being vibrant, and bringing a whimsical quality to paintings (there's a reason why gouache was the paint of choice for background animators in old animated movies). Since my usual painting area is currently being used for something else, and I also had some extra paper mounted on aluminum panels begging to be used, this morning I pulled out my Himi gouache set and started painting.
I purposefully left white spaces in the piece to give the feeling of looking into someone else's daydream or memory, and while there were certain details I wanted to absolutely keep - the brighter green area in the water, and the way the light shone on the tree - I focused on the feelings the cenote gave me rather than firm details to lean into the idea of looking into a memory.
And finally my cenote itch was scratched. Thank goodness, so that I can now focus on my painting for the Big Show without wanting to paint a mangrove tree into the background.
"Chasing Waterfalls" will be available soon on the website if I decide I can let her go: 12x14" gouache on paper mounted on aluminum panel.
"This is Where I Daydream" will probably also be available on the website soon: 12x14" watercolour markers & ink on paper mounted on aluminum panel
Love, Tor
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