Watercolors of my own

I am working on some watercolors of local scenery so that I can cut them up and use them in my collage work. I feel less and less like using imagery from other sources and more and more like creating my own. Not sure where this drive is coming from, but I am sure it's another factor in my slow collage output as of late.
David Hochbaum made quite an impression on me and here 3 years later I am still working this thru....he had such a lack of ephemera. I have the motherload. He relies on his own skill to create his work...instead of others. I have not been so strict in my collage work. In fact, at one point I remember challenging myself to use as much weird stuff as possible! (the sharon springs series) Then came the period where I challenged myself to use my own photo prints. Perhaps this is the natural progression...where I start using my own watercolors, too.

I have never thought I was a superior watercolor painter. Usually I satisfy the urge to paint by doing a few sketches, and then I go back to collage. But, I have been painting a LOT this year. I guess I am subconsciously creating a body of work that I can then....tear apart! I used one recent watercolor in a collage already, even though I cringed as I tore it in half. I guess I will compare it to eating a chicken you bought at the store...or eating a chicken that you have to kill first, then gut, then de-feather...before you eat it. There's a bit of personal pain involved. Maybe this will mean more emotion in the artwork?

The Mohawk Valley will be my new subject. I have dabbled recently with the idea of writing fairy tales and illustrating them. I also wanted to work a bit with Lithuanian imagery. But neither of these ideas has taken flight. Perhaps it's another reason for the creative lull. So I am sparking it all up. New subject. New techniques.
Perhaps a new message is also being written?

A certain painter lived here in the region in years past. His name was Rufus Grider. He did a lot of watercolors of local scenes...and related them to our historical past. I love the flavor of his work and it inspires me to try something with that flavor. I got a chance to see some of his work at the Fort Plain Museum, where they house a bunch of his stuff and have it on display.


Here's the source photograph that I took for my next watercolor piece. It's a photo of a farm that is probably 4 - 5 houses up the road from me. This is the back side of the farm, as viewed from Blaine Rd.

I would paint en plein air....but the deerflies were KILLIN' ME! Here's the Julie watercolor version:

It's kinda cutesy...but I already took a few laser prints of it. And these prints, I shall rip and tear for collage. In this case, I am leaving the watercolor original alone!