WAIMEA CANYON, Kawaii, watercolor on gray paper

WAIMEA CANYON, Kawaii, 7.5x10 "(19x25 cm.) watercolor on gray paper

TECHNIQUE: As I like to experiment with different surfaces, this watercolor was painted on gray paper, its surface intended for pencil, crayon and pastels. I challenged myself to see how I could work it with watercolor. I had to use white gouache for the whites, since the surface was gray, but it worked, as you can see! This is one of the paintings in my large Carnet de Voyage, created by Alvaro Castagnet. Alvaro is a fantastic watercolorist from Uruguay.

KAWAII FOREVER, watercolor

Kawaii Forever, 7.5x 11 watercolor

I am reading THE BOTANY OF DESIRE by Michael Pollan. The first chapter refers to the desire: sweetness. It says: "Desire is built into the very nature and purpose of fruit, and so, quite often, is a kind of taboo." Apparently, the famous American Johnny Appleseed's real name was Johnny Chapman, who never wore shoes to be in contact with the earth, and had such a relationship with nature, that he would spend his own money to buy a lame horse to save it from slaughter. His kindness to animals was an outrage to frontier custom.