"Essence of a Flower" is 18x24", watercolor on paper.  I produced this piece as a practice exercise while attending a recent workshop with artist Sterling Edwards.  The topic of the class was Big Brush Floral Paintings in Watercolor.  Watercolor is my least comfortable medium.  I am an admirer of Sterling's loose and effortless rendering of a wide range of subject matter, how he manages to have one foot in representation and the other in abstraction.  The result can be an intriguing suggestion of content that lures the viewer in.  These pieces are created swiftly.  There is no laboring.  It either works or it doesn't. 

First you lay in a wash, being sure to preserve the precious white of the paper.  With watercolor, your white comes from the paper.  Once you cover it, it's gone.  You must work quickly because with every second your paper is drying.  Once the wash is down and dry, you begin selectively defining, implying your subject by carving out negative shapes (spaces between) and adding in positive shapes.  A little goes a long way.  After I completed my initial wash, which was successful, I hit a wall of fear.  What if I started rendering my flowers and I put a shape where I didn't want it?  Or I went too far and lost what I wanted to leave unsaid?  But, I dove in.  There are things I can pick apart about this result but overall I like it.  It's loose and playful and most definitely some kind of flower but which kind is up to you.