randomness…

It snowed and was very cold most of the day. Not as cold as yesterday, but still a good day to stay inside. And paint. Now, if there were only something to paint.

So, I started drawing random lines and thought that was fun. And slowly, little by little, I added color to the spaces between the lines until it came to me that the empty space outside of the lines was probably the sea. When I decided that was the sea, I added water to that area with my paintbrush and then painted the color because I wanted the wet on wet appearance. I thought that it would be fun to have some texture so I poured salt on the sea. Well, it is salt water. But this is a watercolor technique that adds texture if you put the salt on the paper at the right time, which is when the paint is shiny. If it’s too dry, the salt will simply fall off the paper and have no effect.

After the painting dried, I decided to add a few details, including a sailboat and strange streets and boxie houses.

This could be a place. And it could be part of a future story. Maybe a mysterious land that is visited by a sea monster and a mermaid.

And then, when I decide it’s a place and who will visit, I need to figure out who lives there and what they are like.

This is all part of the brainstorming process of creating stories that are part fractured fairy tale and part fiction and maybe a little bit of magic realism.

Oh, and maybe, Bearnacle Bear will find this mysterious place and will explore with his crew.

The randomness of the image makes more ideas possible and, so, randomness is good.

If you have any other ideas that you would like to see happen in a potential story, please use the comment section below!

3 thoughts on “randomness…”

  1. Alice, the first thing that struck me was the beautiful colors. Even if it didn’t look like a coast with ocean/lake next to it, it is intrinsically beautiful. Second, I found the idea of salt in the paint intriguing. Many years ago, I bought a “coffee painting” at a sidewalk art event. The painting depicts a waterfall, and it has always hung in a prominent place in my home. There was/is coffee in the paint. At points, it looks like there were coffee crystals, but I don’t know. I can’t find the artist’s name in social media, so we may never know. Meanwhile, I enjoy the waterfall.

  2. That trick with the salt to add texture sounds like an idea I can pass along to some young artists I know.
    Your picture reminds me of some of the pictures I have been editing at for last six hours to get the blue of the Mediterranean sea to look just right.
    Blog on !

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