What A Wonderful World

My newest and largest in a series of paintings with blown bubbles has just been accepted into the 2020 Tennessee Watercolor Society Biennial Exhibition. International watercolor artist and juror Soon Warren selected “What A Wonderful World” as one of 72 paintings for the show. My painting “Eat Chicken” was the Best in Show winner at the Society’s 2018 biennial exhibit. Perhaps now I’ll become known as the bubble lady instead of the cow lady…?!?!

This painting features my great-nephew Liam, who was also the subject of a small watercolor I did months ago, When He Was Six. He and his sister Olivia were very willing models for candid photos during a visit from Minnesota in spring 2019, and I’ve done several paintings from our fun time together. In this photo Liam’s face is full of expression and his tilted hat adds to the cuteness factor. I felt this pose in a painting could be interesting and engaging, with a touch of whimsy and fun.

I purposely composed the artwork with the face – my focal point – off center, and with bubbles floating in all directions. I introduced a new and more interesting background from my photo reference files, with lots of green foliage to play against the red tones of the skin. I arranged the leaves to balance with the figure and to echo the curve of Liam’s head. Splotches of blue sky would repeat the blues I chose to use for Liam’s clothing. I wanted hard and soft edges, warm and cool tones, negative and positive shapes, close and distant elements… and a good backdrop for the floating bubbles.

As I’ve written in previous blog posts, I’ve experimented with various methods of creating bubbles, to capture their transparency along with reflectivity. I learned that vibrant colors appear somewhat randomly within the bubble shape. In this painting I used one palette of brilliant transparent pigments for the bubbles, using them pure from the tube rather than in mixed colors. I used another selection of colors for everything else, blending on the palette as well as well as on the painting, as I commonly do. I introduced a lot of color to the skin tones, to emphasize the expression, create dimensionality, and add life.

“What A Wonderful World” is a very large painting, done on a double elephant sheet of 300lb cold press Arches watercolor paper, measuring 40″ x 29.5″. I began, as usual, with a pencil sketch, using circle templates for the bubbles with bubbles near his eye and by his chin drawn as ovals. Using more ‘artistic license,’ I removed the black bow tie, which Liam had been wearing as the best man in a mock wedding we had staged before taking out the bubble soap.

The collage of the painting in process shows how I proceeded – in my usual tight and careful manner of painting! I loved creating the details, textures and folds of the clothing, face and hands, but the background proved to be a bit tedious. I saved the bubbles to the end, preserving their bright colors and white outlines. Some of the initial bright colors were removed by re-wetting and blotting, as I added the background colors as if they showed through the transparent bubbles. While I was taking photographs of the painting as it neared completion, my point-and-shoot camera kept indicating “blinking detected,” so I guess I captured a realistic facial expression!

I struggled with a title and was influenced by the current coronavirus pandemic. The painting depicts a carefree and happy outdoor experience, which a year later has largely vanished from everyday life. I am optimistic that time will heal the multitude of injuries to our health, our social system, our businesses, our financial status, and our strength as a nation… and help return us to a more wonderful world. I like the lyrics from the popular song “What A Wonderful World,” first recorded by Louis Armstrong, covered by many artists and included in numerous tv and movie scores. The references to beauty, colors, people, and a bright future seemed appropriate for the feelings I had as I completed this painting, so I adopted its title:

What a Wonderful World
by Bob Thiele (as George Douglas) and George David Weiss

“I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do
They’re only saying I love you

I see babies crying, I watch them grow
They’ll learn so much more than I’ll ever know
Then I think to myself what a wonderful world….”

The 2020 Tennessee Watercolor Society Biennial Exhibition is slated to take place August 7 – September 24, 2020, at West Tennessee Regional Art Center in Humboldt, TN. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that we’ll be able to be there live and in person!