On A Misty Day
This painting I’m presenting to you today, has been on my mind for almost 2 years now. It had to mature, my watercolor practise had to mature too. My eyes also, I guess, and last not least my mind. Somehow, doing this kind of painting, presented a risk, I feared messing it up, and after I began it 2 weeks ago, I got stuck for some days, but then I took my courage and went on. Persevered. I told myself that the worse case would be me messing it up but that I could always try again. Why not? We have not given up to walk when we were little and fell on our butt or knees all the time:)
I didn’t mess it up and will now move on with this technique, which I love. Put only ever so subtle layers of pigments, much water, dry it with handdryer, then go on like this, letting it sit for some days perhaps, get away from it and then put on more color to obtain depth.
I searched for a poem for this painting, and found this one here by Rilke, whom I love. I can read this poem many many times and still probably don’t understand it fully, but it’s so beautiful…
A WALK
Already my gaze is upon the hill, the sunny one,
at the end of the path which I’ve only just begun.
So we are grasped, by that which we could not grasp,
at such great distance, so fully manifest—
and it changes us, even when we do not reach it,
into something that, hardly sensing it, we already are;
a sign appears, echoing our own sign . . .
But what we sense is the falling winds. (Rainer Maria Rilke, 1924)
Trocadero on a cold and misty day - Watercolor 24 x 30 cm - 9,5 x 12 in ©estandrea 2010
Schon ist mein Blick am Hügel, dem besonnten,
dem Wege, den ich kaum begann, voran.
So fasst uns das, was wir nicht fassen konnten,
voller Erscheinung, aus der Ferne an—
und wandelt uns, auch wenn wirs nicht erreichen,
in jenes, das wir, kaum es ahnend, sind;
ein Zeichen weht, erwidernd unserm Zeichen . . .
Wir aber spüren nur den Gegenwind. (Rainer Maria Rilke, 1924)
WOW! gorgeous!
thanks Tammy, I love your reaction, it’s very motivating:)
Oh Andrea,
I love this painting so much, because it is so subtle. Painting like this with so much restraint and planning does take a lot of maturity in both art and person. It is interesting how some people can do this technically at any point, but the spirit is not there. Your waiting allowed for not only the fine tuning of the technical aspects, but also allowed you to place so much of yourself into this work! It is truly beautiful and so well executed. Your patience helped you create an incredible work of art here.
I also love this view of the ET and the atmosphere you put in place screams Paris! Wow! You helped me take a bit of a trip here this afternoon!
I love the inclusion of the Rilkie poem, whom I also love! Beautiful, thoughtful post!
Kim, thanks for your sweet comment, funny cause I thought a lot about this technically but empty and technically but full:). I don’t see any interest in just copying a photograph I made, I mean, the painting has to bring something additional, something magical to the picture, or else it will indeed be empty. So, technique is very important but giving a “soul” to the painting is too. Thanks for making me think about this again:)
Andrea, I completely agree with you to just copy the photo would be empty. I think bringing your spirit to this is something almost important not to think about. It seems to me when you are in the right frame of mind, the spirit comes naturally – and sometimes getting to that frame of mind isn’t going to happen when we want it to. Clearly, it is not anything you can force, it just has to be there. Then again, it takes a lot of work (even outside of the studio) to be able to leave a bit of yourself in art.
You certainly did NOT mess it up! This is beautiful. And I love this new blog of yours. Sorry I’m so late in catching up with you.
Thank you for stopping by my place and leaving such nice comments. It’s good to “see” you again.
Katie Jane, thanks for stopping by, I know that it’s a bit more complicated to leave comment on WP blogs when you come from Blogger, so I appreciate all the more the friends who still come here to see me:)
a beautiful painting andrea….
it looks like a photograph….
just beautiful … and together wirh this poem…
it send schills down my spine,
you a a wonderful artist…
and i thank you,
xxx
Klaproos, thanks, it came from a photograph I took some time ago, it’s not a black and white photograph, but look almost like one, as the day was so misty. It was a very special, magical atmosphere….
Andrea
This is awesome Andrea. I love how you make us look from the shadow to the Woman in black and then to the Eiffle Tower. but I keep coming back to that woman wanting to know what she is thinking and feeling looking at the tower. She is a powerful figure. Great work.
Cris thank you, I like the way you describe your eyes travelling through the picture, this wasn’t done on purpose when I chose the composition, but I’m thankful it turned out like that. When I took the photograph, it was really the right moment and the right spot, I changed the composition only slightly, once I’ve decided to draw it.
completely amazing painting, almost photographic in feel. interesting how your watercolor work has evolved. you are a master now, I think. the poem too goes so well with the picture.
Thank you Suki, I guess the photographic feeling is because the mist that day took most of the colors away, and just left very soft tones…
Lovely work, my friend. The monotone works so well with the subject matter. Am glad that you included the Rilke poem…lovely.
Patricia, I’m discovering soft, very soft hues of colors and montones. The switch from very bold colors to this here represents quite a shift in my work, thanks so much for your motivating comment!
very very beautiful
Thank you so much, your comments always motivate my muse:)
bien balaise cette aquarelle. Superbement rendu le sol.
Deine Parisansichten gefallen mir unheimlich gut und ich freue mich schon auf die nächsten überraschenden Einblicke!!! Rilke erschließt sich mir auch nur bedingt, wenn überhaupt. Ich lass’ Dir mal was zukommen… Garnet.
Garnett, wie schön Dich hier zu lesen. Ich musste Dich als neuen “Kommentator” erstmal in meinem Blog bestätigen, deshalb erschien Dein Kommentar nicht gleich, und deshalb hast Du ihn sicher zweimal eingegeben, doppelt gemoppelt hält besser!
Sei lieb umarmt,
Andrea
Huch, da sollte aber nur ein einziges t in Deinen Namen!