Until the Water Falls

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Melange Modele, Oian Sunset & Barcelona Flowers

Today's post will feature three watercolor paintings that I completed in 2011 and sold in 2014.

The first one is "Melange Modele" - which was a full sheet 22"x30" watercolor painting on paper. The style is similar to my early thesis paintings in 2009, where I combined pattern imagery with roses.

Here, there are two large roses, adorned (tattooed, perhaps) with patterns. The background is also decorated with pattern, giving the painting an overall patchwork or scrapbook collage feel. I further played up the cut/torn paper aspect by blocking off parts of the design with masking fluid, so that the painting would look torn, or layered with "windows" of transparent paper.

This is the full-size painting:

"Melange Modele" - 22x30" watercolor painting on paper (2011)
by Andrea Arbit. Part of the collection of Silva & Smith.

And here are several details of the work:

"Melange Modele" (detail) - 22x30" watercolor painting on paper (2011)
by Andrea Arbit. Part of the collection of Silva & Smith.

The second painting is a half-sheet size (15"x22"), also watercolor on paper. It is titled "Oian Sunset."

The flower image was based on a source photograph I took of tropical pink flowers in Oia, on the Greek island of Santorini (where I went for my honeymoon in 2011). The flowers took on a silhouette quality with the beautiful sunset behind them, making them back-lit. I added one of my designed patterns to the yellow background, which I painted with a hint of gold metallic watercolor paint.

Here is the entire painting:

"Oian Sunset" - 15x22" watercolor painting on paper (2011)
by Andrea Arbit. Part of the collection of Silva & Smith.

And here are some detail shots:

"Oian Sunset" (detail) - 15x22" watercolor painting on paper (2011)
by Andrea Arbit. Part of the collection of Silva & Smith.

The third painting purchased as part of this set was also a half-sheet size (15"x22") watercolor on paper. It is titled "Barcelona Flowers."

In my post of Barcelona photos yesterday, I shared the source photograph I used for this painting. I took the photo in the Parc de la Ciutadella in the summer of 2010. I did not add any patterns to this piece, but did alter the design from the photograph in a few painterly ways. I decided which parts to render more detailed/realistically, and which to leave more abstract.

Here is the source photo, for those who don't remember from yesterday:

Photography by Andrea Arbit (2010)

And here is the entire painting:

"Barcelona Flowers" - 15x22" watercolor painting on paper (2011)
by Andrea Arbit. Part of the collection of Silva & Smith.

The details of this painting are below:

"Barcelona Flowers" (detail) - 15x22" watercolor painting on paper (2011)
by Andrea Arbit. Part of the collection of Silva & Smith.

These paintings have already sold (all three to the same collector), but I have many more paintings in these styles (and others) available for purchase through my Etsy shop.

I also take commissions! If you want something that I no longer have for sale, please contact me. I can make you something similar, or something custom - whatever you desire!

Monday, January 11, 2016

Barcelona - Parc de la Ciutadella

At the end of our 2010 cruise (which stopped and ended in Barcelona), we had to disembark at some ungodly hour like 6 am. My husband and I planned to stay in Barcelona for an extra day, and then take a train to Montpellier, France, and then up to Paris. But we were a little lost for how to fill the time between us getting off our cruise ship and when any Barcelona attractions opened (such as the Picasso Museum I wanted to see).

We sort of wandered around for a bit, and then stumbled on this gorgeous, large park. It was the perfect place to spend a couple of hours while we waited for the museum to open, and I took a lot of photos.

Here are some of my favorites:

Some of those photos may look familiar to you - I've used several of these as source photographs for colored pencil drawings and watercolors since 2010.

Here is "Barcelona Blooms" (5"x7" colored pencil drawing on black paper), for sale through my Etsy shop.

And here is "Barcelona Roses" (5"x7" colored pencil drawing on black paper), for sale through my Etsy shop.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Barcelona, Spain

Here are some of my favorite photos that I took in Barcelona, Spain, as part of a Mediterranean cruise with my husband and his family in 2010.

Parc Guell

Detail of a decorated bench

Detail of a brightly colored lizard sculpture

The reflection of boats in the waters of Port Olimpic

Port Olimpic at dusk

An early morning sunrise (as seen from our cruise ship)

Palm trees outside the Parc de la Ciutadella (more photographs from that park in tomorrow's post)

Gaudi Architecture

View of Barcelona from the incoming plane

Gaudi Architecture

Parc Guell

Sagrada Familia Cathedral, still under construction since 1882

View from the cruise ship

I took a lot of photographs of the Parc de la Ciutadella at the end of our cruise, so I'll post those photos tomorrow.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Fire and Ice Roses

Way back in college, before I started my thesis, I first explored my idea of merging pattern and floral imagery in this painting from 2009. I had just gotten some metallic Daniel Smith watercolors, and I wanted to try them out. The result was this large, brightly-colored watercolor painting, which is a full sheet in size (22"x30"). The metallic paints were often not diluted much or mixed with non-metallic colors, so it's a very shiny piece (which you can see in some of the detail photographs).

I titled it "Fire and Ice Roses" because of the color palette I chose - fiery orange-reds paired with cool icy blues. There's a much greater emphasis on a primary color triad (red, yellow, and blue) than I usually use (I generally prefer the secondary triad of purple, green, and orange) because the metallic paints I got were red, gold, and blue metallic.

This painting is for sale through my Etsy shop.

Friday, January 8, 2016

More Latin Quotations

I started posting some of these quotes yesterday, but there were just too many good ones, so I split it up into two posts. So here are some more of my favorite Latin quotations that I came across in researching for my novel (some of which made it into my novel(s) and many which probably won't):

Non est ad astra mollis e terries via - There is no easy way from the Earth to the stars. (Seneca the Younger)

Non nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vindicat, partem amici - We are not born, we do not live for ourselves alone; our country, our friends have a share in us. (Cicero)

Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati - We are but numbers, born to consume resources. (Horace)

Non omnia possumus omnes - We cannot all do everything. (Virgil, Eclogues)

Non qui parum habet, sed qui plus cupit, pauper est - It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. (Seneca the Younger)

Non satis est puris versum perscribere verbis - Tis not sufficient to combine well-chosen words in a well-ordered line. (Horace)

Nullum esse librum tam malum, ut non aliqua parte prodesset - No book was so bad but that some good might be got out of it. (Pliny the Younger, repeating what his father, Pliny the Elder, used to say)

Nullumst iam dictum quod non dictum sit prius - Nothing is said that has not been said before. (Terence, Eunuchus)

Omnia fert aetas, animum quoque - Time bears away all things, even our minds. (Virgil, Ecologues)

Otium et reges prius et beatas perdidit urbes - Often has leisure ruined great kings and fine cities. (Catullus)

Quae fuit furum pati, meminisse dulce est - Things that were hard to bear are pleasant to remember. (Seneca the Younger)

Qui e nuce nucleum esse vult, frangat nucem - He who would eat the kernel must crack the shell. (Plautus, Curculio, I.1)

Quidquid multis peccatur inultum est - The sin of thousands always goes unpunished. (Lucan)

Rarum id quidem nihil enim aeque gratum est adeptis quam concupiscentibus - An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit. (Pliny the Younger)

Sapiens vivit quantum debet, non quantum potest - The wise man will live as long as he ought, not as long as he can. (Seneca the Younger)

Satius est supervacus acire quam nihil - It is better to know useless things than nothing at all. (Seneca the Younger)

Scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim - Learned or not, we shall write poems without distinction ("Fools also write").

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What I love most about these quotes (and all of the research I ended up doing about Ancient Rome) is noting how little has changed between then and now, despite the passing of two millennia. Humans still ponder these same questions, repeat these same words, make the same mistakes, have the same insights, make the same arguments...

Even back then, they were saying that everything had already been said, that there was nothing new under the sun. And yet - it is new. Over and over again, it's new again. Just because someone already realized something two thousand years ago doesn't diminish the excitement we feel when we realize it again in our own lives in 2016.

I don't know - when I read quotes like this, it makes me feel really small/insignificant but at the same time an important, significant piece of a cyclical, multi-layered world. (Somehow those feelings aren't contradictory. They coexist rather peacefully.) And that's why I was drawn to do all this research in the first place.