| Submitted by: Howard Salmon , United States |
| Submission Date: 12 August 2005 |
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The painting is an exaggeration of what was happening there. If I were to take a photo, the picture would be darker. It would just look like a man watching TV smoking a hookah. But the feeling, the smells, and the energy of the place you have to translate with line quality and color. In this case the line quality is frenetic, and the color is diffuse and wet, and all over the place...which indicates how I was feeling at the time: full of life.
Another person I had a lot of fun drawing was our tour guide. Our group ended up one day in the mystical city of Safat. And as we gathered in the courtyard after we got off the bus, our tour guide, whose name was “Mookie”, explained the history of the region and why they came here. It was known for being a place where a man named Joseph Luria, who had mystical visions, developed the kabbalah, which he wrote down in a surrealistic biblical poetic style. But it’s also known for its artists and artisans. However, as he was speaking to us all, I decided to join Safat’s history of artists...so I sketched Mookie. Since I only had a few minutes to capture him, I focused only on his most salient features, which were his hand gestures. Mookie loved to gesture with his index finger pointing up to make a point, and with his extended pinky, which indicated education, refinement, and culture: a studied and pretentious quality.
I had to rush with that painting. I quickly got the drawing down, and started painting it right away. My friend and roommate, Andy, snapped a photograph of me painting Mookie. The photo that Andy snapped of me illustrates my method of working. If you look at the picture, you’ll see that I’m holding a very tiny brush. I’m holding, with my thumb, a piece of paper, which is no bigger than a postcard against the portfolio book, which I will later insert this page into after it dries. At my knee is a bottle of water, which is open, the cap is right next to me. That cap is filled with water, and I was continually dipping into that cap with my brush. Behind me and off to one side you’ll see a small paint set that I carry with me. The paint set is no bigger than the palm of my hand; it’s very portable. I stored the paint set in a plastic freezer bag, so that the paints wouldn’t drip over other things in my shoulder bag when I was done.
Our final destination our trip through Israel was an excursion across the border into Jordan. In Jordan there’s a fabulous site called Petra. Petra is a series of red sandstone mountains where the Naboteans and later the Romans carved temples right out of the rock. It’s an entire city complete with houses, amphitheater, and burial tombs carved right out of the rock. My first painting of Petra was in front of its most spectacular feature that is called “The Treasury”. This is the most intact remnant of Petra. It has not been worn away by the winds or the elements. Incredibly, it is in pristine shape. It probably has something to do with the fact that it is tucked away inside the crevice of a cavernous nook that protects it from the elements.
When our group arrived at this spectacular edifice, I immediately pulled out my drawing pad and quickly sketched the camels that were lying down in front of it, as well as the Treasury itself. By my side were little Jordanian boys trying to sell me souvenirs. There was a moment when one of the Jordanian kids was watching what I was drawing. I showed it to him, and he looked at me, smiled, and gave me a thumbs-up sign..., which I thought was great. Art really is a Universal language.
We had another minute to linger at the Treasury, so I sat down at a bench and quickly added paint. I was interrupted by our tour guide who said that it was time to carry forward. So I put my paint set away and continued on with the group. Looking back at the painting, I can see that the very limited use of color I added, due to the fact that I was being rushed to move along, actually helped the painting. Spare use of color with lots of white space leaving just the drawing imparts to me a feeling of bright light, airiness, and heat. A rich use of color imparts to me a sense of water, fertility, and coolness...but Petra was not like that. Petra was very desert-like. In many ways, it reminded me of Arizona, from where I hail. So I was glad that was rushed along, for now I can see that to make a successful painting, you don’t need layers and layers of paint. A few strokes here and there as accents can go a long way.
My trip to Israel, as an artist, was incredibly rewarding. I was seeing sights that I’d only heard about or had seen photographs of. But here I was in the Holy Land, with my bottle of water, my palette of paints, and my portfolio book of snapshot-sized pieces of paper. I recorded everything I could see as quickly and as honestly as I could. I really feel that I brought back some of the feeling and flavor of Israel.
I would encourage all of you watercolor artists out there to travel, and make it a habit of taking a paint set with you. Get something very small that you can have always with you. Get a small book of paper that you can carry around with you. Also bring a bottle of water, and use the bottle cap as your water dish. Recycle the capful of dirty water by pouring it back into the bottle when you are finished with it. I feel that you will get results that will please you more than those you’ll get shooting photographs. Photography’s been overrated. See the world with new eyes. It’s okay if you forget to bring your camera. Just don’t forget to take your watercolor set. Good luck, and happy travels. |
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| Copyright © - "Howard Salmon" |
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