No Earthly Idea

  So, here I am again. Writing this blog. About what it's like to be an artist. How to talk about art. What goes through my head when I'm inspired. I have no idea what the subject of this one will be. So, let's look at some of my art:

  This is watercolor I call "Flowers II". It was an exercise I did while I was living in Twinsburg, Ohio in 1998. I was trying to build my art chops up again after not taking my art seriously for a long time. It's a simple project. Red. Yellow. Green. Add an ink pen and that's what I used here. Plus a watercolor brush. I had just purchased my first set of Kolinsky sable brushes. The top of the line material for a paint brush. Not the top of the line over all, but my first introduction to high quality materials. I'm a big believer in buying the best you can afford. Especially brushes.
   Here's another:

"With Child". I painted this in my studio in the house I grew up in, in Cape Girardeau, MO. It was in 2005  or so. I had bought some spray pigment and wanted to try it out. I sprayed the watercolor paper and let it dry. It told me that this would be a good image to paint on it. I painted it with black watercolor. I'm pretty happy with it.
   How about this one:

"100 Brush Strokes". It was done as part of an artistic challenge. Paint a whole painting with only 100 brush strokes ( I bet you didn't see that coming ). It was harder than you'd probably think. It was harder than I anticipated. 100 strokes don't get you very far. If not for the restrictions put on this by the challenge it's not much of a painting. With the restrictions in mind, well, it's still not something I am really proud of. But, I think enough of you to show it to you.
  Now, here's the best example I have of the series it's from:

"Acrylic Abstract #5". I also painted this one in Twinsburg. I had a few spare canvases, some latex house paint, and a big back yard. I tried a Jackson Pollock drip painting thing, and, well, it wasn't quite what I expected. It probably works better on big pieces. This on might be 20" x 16", if it's that big. There was so much paint sitting on it when I was done it took three days for it to dry. Three days. Latex and acrylics usually dry in an hour or so, depending on the humidity of the room. Three fricking days I had to leave these out in the back yard. Once this one dried I drew on it with a white paint pen. I looked for the hidden image. I think this one is pretty cool, but more so when you know the back story.
  And, that's what I have for you this week. A few of my lesser known paintings complete with back story. Where else can you find something like this?