DRY BRUSH WATERCOLOR

Once, a gallery owner kindly told me to stick with one recognizable style in order to further my art career. His advice was sound, but ... There are just too many excellent ways to express feelings when painting, too many wonderful, awesome, beautiful things to paint, and not enough lifetime left to paint it all. So I continue to paint what I want to paint in whatever 'style' I want to paint it in. Diversity is a lot more fun than sticking to a specific formula for me. And the Art Career? I figure Success is measured in more than one way.

The technique shown in this painting is called "Dry Brush." Andrew Wyeth is the master of dry brush, and Joseph Boehler uses it superbly, too. I seldom paint this way, but once I'm into the painting, I hate for it to end. The paint was applied with almost no moisture added and built up by crosshatching to develop depth of value, color, and texture. Because there's no water to spread the paint around, it takes many, many, many hours to complete a painting like this. The richness and depth can't be achieved any other way.
"WELL KEPT SECRETS" on Bristol Board 10 x 14"