Postcards in the Air : BACK TO BASICS

Friday, July 18, 2025

BACK TO BASICS

By Martha Slavin

After spending most of spring dealing with our possessions and only making time to sketch when I sat in a cafe or on a park bench, I can finally return to my daily art practice. I always call what I do Practice to allow myself to relax, not worry about mistakes, and to know that the piece in front of me is not so important that I can't try again. My life as an artist would be different if I depended on an income from my art. As a commercial artist, I would need to meet the buyer's requests and not be focused on my own expression. Instead, I'm free to experiment and to fail. With watercolor, I have a host of those failures; not every piece is worthy of a show or to be framed. I cut my discarded paintings into either strips or one-to-two-inch squares, which I adhere to a larger piece of paper. Sometimes I align them like quilt pieces; other times, I let them fall and glue them down where they land. Every watercolor has some parts that work very well, and there are always parts that don't. Cutting them up and re-purposing them has given me the freedom to see new possible pieces. I find I use them as a base for calligraphy too. I haven't figured out a good phrase for the Squares & Circles below. Any suggestions?

Squares & Circles by Martha Slavin

I'm once again an active participant in watercolorist Leslie Wilson's watercolor class. She teaches the direct painting technique, which is quite different from how I originally learned watercolor with built-up layers of paint on damp paper. Her techniques are adapted from Charles Reid and make use of hard and soft edges, mixing colors directly on the paper, and contrast between darks and lights. My first attempt in class turned immediately into one-inch squares as soon as it was dry.

I've gone back to basics by doing small watercolor sketches instead of the half-sheet watercolor paper that I use in class. With the smaller paper I can let go of any fear of messing up and just concentrate on small parts of the sketch. Notice I say sketch, not painting. Sometimes those sketches develop into a good-enough painting; other times, they just become part of my sketchbook that I can close when I'm done. Like creating a palette of colors, small paintings allow me to think to myself: "Practice, practice, practice, with work that I hope I can carry over to larger pieces once I have my 'watercolor mind" back.