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Rhonda Watson

Why do I paint? Sometimes I wonder about that. It's very expensive and when you're living on a limited income, it almost feels like insanity. From the time I was a young girl I've had a... read more Why do I paint? Sometimes I wonder about that. It's very expensive and when you're living on a limited income, it almost feels like insanity. From the time I was a young girl I've had a fetish toward blank sheets of paper. Every year when summer was over and it was time to go back to school and I'd get a new tablet with all of those fresh, white pages to fill I would get excited. And each time I was handed a blank sheet of paper in art class it was as if I were being handed the keys to the world. Ah,....... the challenge!! Ah,...... the colors!! Ah,.......the paints! the crayons!! the pens!!! the pencils!!! It is as exciting to me now as it was back then. When I'm inspired to work on a particular painting, I look at the colors first. The amount and variations of colors found in a typical photograph or scenery never cease to amaze me. If you look hard enough you can find every color of the rainbow in just about every thing you see. They are subtle and you have to look hard to see them but, they are there. I love the challenge of finding them and as I am maturing as an artist, finding them is becoming easier to me. The hues of purple, dark greens, blues, deep reds and browns are found in the shadows. When capturing shadows I try to avoid using straight black or grays because there are so many other colors to use that enhance a painting's richness. In the lights are oranges, yellows, pinks, light blues, lavenders, and all sorts of variations of those hues and it is my quest to find them in the brightness and learn to apply those colors to enhance my work. I try to avoid using only white for highlights when adding hues adds so much interest, brilliance and depth to a painting. These are secrets I've learned through the years. To add bursts of light to landscapes, to use colors one wouldn't think of using in portraits and wildlife, to utilize the space given on the canvas wisely, to stretch my self imposed boundries and limitations. Yes, I'm on a quest to be the very best artist I can be. I study works by other great artists. I study their lines, their techniques, their use of color, their shadows and lights, their subjects and compositions. One can learn a lot by studying the masters and I'm trying to employ their ideas and talents into my work. I paint because I need to. Now more than ever. There is a powerful force in my soul that needs this outlet of self expression. That needs the challenge. That strives to find it's own voice. Hopefully, as I continue to grow as an artist I will find it and eventually master it.

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