Day Two on the Laguna Madre

Rising at 6 to A Beautiful Dawn on the Lagoon, I was filled with such an exhilaration that I could not wait to shower, dress, and resume painting. I now have 7 watercolors in progress, and am posting the first one that is getting close to a finish. I still want to do some texturing work around the lower border and in pencil write a journal entry across the top. Before leaving on this trip, I finished reading my book Robert Motherwell: 100 Years, and was so excited to read his comments about the tensions between spontaneity and revision and painting. Motherwell has testified that he began his paintings with a series of mistakes, and then returned later to revise them, hoping that a finished painting would emerge. When I read those words, I knew that I wanted to apply this to the cord grasses that I tried to paint a year ago when I was here. Last night I began with plenty of splattering and chaotic brush work and masking. Today, I returned to the paintings, and stripping off the masking, began working on the details and refined elements. The second painting still needs work, but this first one is close enough to finishing that I am glad to post the picture of it.

Thanks for reading. The hours spent on this island so far have been beautiful beyond description.

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