watercolor process paintings

For each watercolor painting I paint (above, painted in Olden, Norway, on the Nordfjord, from the back of a ship), there’s another painting that’s created, without intention and without looking.

These are my test strips and I’m crazy about them. Sometimes I’m crazier about them than the actual made-while-looking painting.

I have piles and piles, because I wouldn’t dream of tossing them.

Each mirrors the painting, but the reflection is like a free-love, free-bird soul sister…no holds barred.

At some point I might do something with them,

but for the moment they’re gathered together in a box.

In the meantime, I’ve been sharing my passion with my students at the ArtLab. For each painting they make, they create (sometimes not so unintentionally) a test strip painting. This week, we turned them into bookmarks.