"A Swish and A Wash" I'm never more astonished than when I uncover something that I could hardly remember creating, and moving is really uncovering an interesting array of artwork. Since this is Saturday night, and I'm tired from a long day of moving and cleaning the house for people to see on Sunday, I thought you might enjoy a journey into the past. (Why do people want to see the house when it is in such disarray? These people better buy it!)
The story behind this watercolor (!) is that I painted it 38 years ago while enrolled in a figurative painting class at Ventura College, on the coast of California. Watercolor was how we learned to do quick studies, and I must have done fifty of them. This one was the best of the lot. I gave it to my aunt and uncle, and they had it professionally framed under glass in the gold you see here.
The work itself shows youthfulness, no color sense, and yet the proportions on the figure are better than one would expect. I went through a period of doing quasi-abstractions, mostly to cover a lack of the pure knowledge that comes with time and practice. I can remember putting in the squares on the lower right, exploring my new knowledge of negative space. I thought that they would add interest and movement.
As you look at it, I hope you realize that making art is all about growing, not about arriving. This work is signed in ink with the name I used at that time (Patricia Thomas), lower right, with a number 1/20 as though it was a print. I didn't know squat about print runs, and numbering this original is a splendid example of my ignorance. 20 x 13.5 inches, in gold frame, $300 for a piece of history.-
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