A Grand Experiment

There's a saying that goes something like "if you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always got". While I've been working on watercolor pears everyday, I've been in a rut and needed a different direction to explore.

When I went to Monica's class, she had one example that was more an impression of a pear, rather than a pear. If you looked at the painting, it's like the pear emerged from a fog or something while you were looking at it. I wish I would have slowed down, looked at it more carefully and either tried to figure out what she did or just asked her. In any event, thinking about that pear inspired me to try something new.

What I did was paint some backgrounds of different colors. On some of them, I took away color in the vague form of a pear shape before the background was fully dry. On some of them, I let them fully dry.

For today's completed experiment, I look one background where I removed paint in two places and played further. On the left side, my intention was to just leave it, except for adding a shadow and a stem. I couldn't help myself and I did some light washes of color. On the other side, I played with adding more background.

I'm saving the other backgrounds for the next several days.

With this first experiment, I ended up with a darker edge of color. While I like the effect and  how it outlines the pear without being obnoxious about it, it makes me very curious about what Monica did with her painting.