Reached the Max Limits

The neighbors

Bob

Trial images on Tyvek

Kathy Cartwright had an interesting post yesterday that reminded me that I have limits to stay mentally and physically strong. Mine are very broad, so it takes a while to reach them, always has. Last night I had to conclude that entering the first ever Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society juried show in July just isn't going to work. Undaunted by a workshop in late April, Silicon Valley Open Studios the first weekend of May, major trips conflicting with submission and take-in days, and weekly classes, I forged on to create a piece based on the theme Red, White, and Blue. However, yesterday we were asked to teach a national cycling seminar that must take precedence. I halted my work on my trial piece.

I show you here parts of my concept. I live in a multicultural area of the US and in a city where people of European descent are a minority, and I love that I can sit in the bagel shop and hear people from many countries buying bagels from the Cambodian family that runs the shop. You might recall that I painted Emy from Bernal Bagels. I decided to paint a piece with my neighbors who come from different parts of the world and had many thoughts on titles (important to me -- I guess I like limits!). "We the People," The Color of Freedom," "United We Stand," "This Land is Your Land," and I could go on.

I wanted to use Tyvek because of the interesting texture possibilities, learned from Myrna Wacknov. I painted with Dr. Martin's Hydrus Watercolors (liquid). I knew the first piece would be an experiment so I was working through issues of color, paint application, positioning of people, background, and how to make the piece speak for itself. Last night, though, the limit light came on and I halted my work. I had to conclude that I have too much on my plate and need to scale back. I am feeling very peaceful with my decision.

Thus, I leave you with some of the experimental folks. Back to Open Studio prep.