The wind carries (original art and my entry to @gmuxx's writing prompt art contest #6)

This is the third painting that I've made now, that reflects one of my poems. If you would like to read it, you will find it here

This time though, the painting came first.

I was looking for a dreamy and slightly surreal image and I started with a bunch of balloons. As always, the pencil sketch was done very lightly to keep them from dominating the watercolour pigments. As usual, the lines were too light to get into focus.

Then, I went against everything my teachers at art school ever thought me and filled out the outline of the balloons with a big blob of water. I flecked drops of pigment into them at random. The idea was to have different colours in there but to have them bleed into each other instead of sticking to the outlines of the individual balloons.

The colours evolved as everything slowly dried. To kill the time while waiting for the balloons to dry, I sketched out and painted a little boy in the opposite corner of the painting.

I kept him sort of hazy and vague since i really wanted the balloons to be the focal point in the painting. Speaking of which: their continues change as the paint dried was endlessly fascinating.

Now that the paint on the balloons had finally dried, it was time to add some finishing touches to them. To contrast with the colours all flowing together, I decided to line them very tightly. I used a black ballpoint pen for this.

Since the boy and the balloons by themselves made for a bit of a stark painting with perhaps a bit too much white space, I decided to place the boy in a green field with a tree at his back.

Since I wanted it to feel a bit like a dream, though, I decided to lift most of the pigment of the tree and the field back off with fresh water. I wanted to suggest the presence of the tree rather than just placing it there.

I'm quite happy with the result. This painting doesn't speak to me through exquisite detailing, but it definitely speaks to me in terms of feeling.

Is the boy looking at the arrival of a message? Or a departure? Does he dread the message? Does he long for the sender?

The story changes every time I look at it. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Hugs

Tiny