Artist Statement – SJQ Watercolour
We are broken people living in a stricken world. I seek to paint, in watercolour, what I see of the hand of a mighty Creator in the midst of the ruins.
His hand is often hidden in plain sight. Details of His care may reveal themselves only with the scrutiny required by painting, like Mia the Jack Russell’s fine, white eyelashes.
The hand of a creator is also visible in the functional mundane, everyday scenes like dishes in the sink.
And now I wonder how I can use watercolour to describe brokenness and pain in the light of the redemption of all things, won at such high cost and given so freely.
I love painting on site and from life. Bold colours, wild washes with every chance of failure. Every now and then a remarkable work.
This is my quest.
Life really is an adventure. And the richness of living is reserved for those who set aside the ephemeral comfort of the safe approach to embrace the drama of a life lived at risk. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the world of watercolour where bold colours and wild washes have every chance of failure but every now and then produce remarkable work. This is my quest.
I love painting on site and from life. And I love splashing watecolor washes down, allowing the water and the colour to produce their own magic.
And I mean “love”.
After so many years of colouring within the lines I want my portraits, figures and landscapes, to show this complete and utter lack of fussy carefulness.
