Yesterday was my first day back in the studio after vacation and while it took me a bit, I did begin to gather my thoughts and ideas, culminating in a new series. Last week we took a day trip to Charleston {more pics of that soon} and visited the Gibbes Museum which features early American art and artists with a Charleston connection. I was fascinated with the work of Charles Fraser, {1782 - 1860} who painted numerous portrait miniatures. Also in the collection were his watercolors on paper and sketchbooks which particularly interested me in terms of his process.
With his influence in mind, and the idea of collecting, I have begun this limited series by painting the treasures I gleaned from the shore. I see these shell watercolors as excerpts or pages from the sketchbook I prepared to paint while there, yet didn't. They are on paper that is like sand in color and feature a deckle edge. The one on the left is my sketch of ideas, while the second one will be available. They include graphite, watercolor, gold ink, pinhole, and letterpress, and are 5in. x 7in. and will be going in my shop sometime soon.On another note, I am worried that the roll of film I took during vacation will not turn out. There was a weird advancing issue and well, M. tells me he thinks there won't be anything on the roll. Now I'm afraid to even take it in to develop and am needless to say, very disappointed. Oh well.
So I'm going to go paint now,
H