Mary DwyerMy journey to find the painter in me began over 10 years ago.
A favorite subject for me is water.…surrounding a lighthouse or in a woodland stream. Additionally, I'm drawn to a group of buoys; flowers, in a bunch or individually; as well as fruits and vegetables………urging me to find their contours and highlights. Unlike the viewer, I never see my painting for the first time because it grows from inspiration, to composition to applying watercolors. Much like a road trip, each painting has unique challenges: whether to add color wet on dry, wet on wet, blending, extracting, drying, adding another glaze and along with defining where the light comes from, where to add shadows, making them either warm or cool. Most of my work is painted on cold press, 140# paper, but I've also used rice paper which is wet and then wrinkled, as well as cheesecloth which is wet and torn before placing on the paper and adding pigment. Both of these applications offer an interesting footprint for images or scenes. Despite the challenges of each painting, my watercolor journey continues because of the endless images, scenic or still life, that the artist in me would like to capture. |