Living Waters Undulate, Inundate, and Facinate Artists

"Skudeneshavn Norway" 20 x 16 Oil on canvas

It’s always hard to get ahead of the curve. Just when you think you’re pulling forward, someone or something pulls the plug on you.  Last week it was a leaky roof. Our place is about 17 years old, and one by one, the houses around us have been getting new tile roofs. Now it’s our turn.

Once the water gets through, however minimal, the damage above has already occurred and wood rot begins. We’ve repaired three fascias’ already, and there may be more. But that’s “water under the bridge.” (I couldn’t resist).

When our family lived in Kansas City, we battled water continually. Except for a bedroom for our teenage son, the leaky parts of the basement had prevented us from refurbishing it.

Finally we found a solution to the crack that ran diagonally down one wall. A friend who repaired swimming pools slathered it with a rubber adhesive that sealed any leaks. We were ecstatic.

"Arabesque" 18 x 14 Oil on canvas

After several dry months went by, we painted and laid carpet in our new family room. The children and their friends finally had a place to hang out. And then the spring rains started up with a vengeance. We held our breath, but the patch held.

The rains continued; one of the heaviest downpours in K.C. history. The front window well filled and flooded into the basement, and then another and another. We started a bucket brigade, but couldn’t keep up with the water filling the wells back up again.

We ended up taking out our soggy new carpet and replacing it with area rugs that could be rolled up in a hurry and put away. We dug trenches around the wells and added pipes to draw the water away. We slanted the front yard so the water wouldn’t come towards the house. Alas, nothing worked. A hard rain could still wipe us out in a matter of minutes simply by filling up the window wells.

"Egret Reflections" SOLD/Prints available.

Water is one of the necessities of life we cannot live without. We fear it. We’re drawn to its sparkling surfaces and its shadowy depths. Without water we would perish; and yet, we have difficulty controlling its unpredictable movements and enormous strength.

Recent flooding this summer in the Midwest brought back so many memories. Artists try to capture the violence and beauty of water; its serenity and peace.

How do you make reflections both in the water and on top of it? Small wavelets on the surface create white netting in the sunlight. Depth changes color. Clarity demands a different technique to indicate a translucence that depicts the sandy or rocky bottom below. 

Painting water requires practice. Once you get the hang of it, brushing on water is fun and addictive. 

Water droplets seem almost impossible until you realize that you have to get away from the canvas before they appear realistic. When you learn how to make them, you have to learn when to stop. Too many of them may give your canvas the look of poke a dots.

"Kelly's Rose" (A rose heavy with rain water) 16 x 12 Acrylic on Panel

It is easy to get carried away as you get better and better at painting lakes, seas, oceans, rivers and puddles. Samples of my own work throughout this blog illustrate how you get better at painting water with practice.

“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.”
Joseph Chilton Pearce

I chose the following three artists to demonstrate their personal techniques for water paintings done in acrylics.

Marion Boddy-Evans shows you how to paint water droplets 

@ Marion Boddy-Evans Water Drops

Lori McNee has the best suggestions for painting different types of water 

@ Lori McNee Painting Tips

Mark Waller shows you the fine details and colors that make up the ocean’s surface.

Reality may be Harsh and Ugly at Times

We have a terrible problem with mold and mildew in the Tropics. We go through gallons of bleach in the same way that most people do milk. We scour our sidewalks and driveways with bleach.  We use it in our sinks and toilets. We set our air conditioner at a certain level, even when we’re gone, just to keep the mold from taking over our belongings.

I can smell mold and mildew in the air when I step outside on humid days. It stings my nose causing my allergies to flare up. Don’t get me wrong. I love living in Southwest Florida. It is beautiful, alive with wildlife, flora and fauna; but the mildew reminds us of the realities of living in a tropical climate.

"India Rising -- The Lost" -- mixed media on canvas

The same could be said about art, and the reasons why some people don’t like political art. It may be that it reminds them of the harshness of reality instead of taking them into a sweet world of beauty, fantasy, and make believe.

Professional artists often enjoy jarring an audience from their predictable assumptions. They use their art to prick the conscientiousness of the viewer. They choose to show the reality of life, the one bubbling just beneath the surface. The one most people want to ignore; the ugliness like hunger, poverty, hatred, and violence. And yet this kind of art may actually move people into taking action which is what the artist hoped for when he envisioned his painting.

"India Rising -- Prince of Thieves," mixed media on canvas

Reminds me of the alligator we saw this morning on our walk. At first, we thought it was floating debris, but the elongated shape at one end made me suspicious. We walked to the edge of the lake to get a better view.

The water and the sunlight revealed ridges across the head and back, and soon the familiar bulging eyes appeared. No sooner did we get a good look than the gator plunged beneath the surface of the water.

Did the ducks and marsh hens realize what was lurking beneath the still idyllic water? Were the ibis, the egrets, the herons and anhingas aware of the danger in their midst? How many times do we, like these swamp creatures, choose to go about our lives ignoring the dangers that lurk beneath the surface of our surroundings, in our government and community?

If art can provoke others to act for the greater good or to become aware of dangers then by all means do it! If an artist can expand our compassion, enlarge our point of view, or create a dialogue then by all means do it!

"India Rising -- The Found" mixed media on canvas

Art is not only meant to be “fluffy,” entertaining, beautiful and inspiring. Art and artistic commentary may educate, uplift, shock, or motivate. Art that does this may have long lasting effects. Once the critics, like ravenous crows, finish picking its bones, the artwork will stand because its message is universal and eternal