Watercolor

Tulum, Mexico.

I’ve always been fascinated by travel notebooks and journals. Still, in 2010, I think about the journals of John Dunbar and the movie Dances With Wolves. My spirit is lifted re-imagining his journey to the fringe of western culture and his gradual but final rebirth as a native. Similarly effecting me, is the Tahiti journal of Paul Gaugin and the story of  his escape to the savage while in search of the truth in art, and within himself. Homer’s work, too, is journalistic and deals with the dark power of nature, life and death, man’s primal instincts and survival. Hopper works in an opposite way . . . every painting a self portrait, a journal of a man longing to be liberated from his closeted self.

I couldn’t help but think about the savage, the dark, the fringe, the native, while in Tulum, Mexico. At times, Tulum feels only marginally settled. Nature reigns. The sun, the heat, the salt, the wind; the elements are always a factor. Electricity is spare. Bottle water only. The animals are prehistoric; lizards, pelicans, toads and giant sea turtles that have been using the Tulum’s beaches to nest for tens of millions of years.

Below are four watercolor sketches that although colorful reflect some of the “primitive” that I experienced while vacationing in Tulum. It’s certainly worthy of another trip and another focused musing on these wild themes.

The Fourth With The Family

Below and above are a few observations I made while visiting with my family over the Fourth of July, Independence Day.  What a worth while thing to celebrate.

A Few More Musing

The High Line, NYC  . . . While painting during a NY Sketchcrawl, I played up the color saturation on the buildings surrounding the High Line to depict the winter sun hanging low over the Hudson just off to the left.

Sometimes I do a study before I paint. This time I did a study after the painting. This self portrait, http://petercusack.com/2009/12/30/self-portrait/ , was still rattling around in my head. Doing a small watercolor from memory helped to process the painting further.

Traveling during the holidays. First time in the north west. This is a small airport in Oregon. And that is small plane. Another first for me. I painted this just before we boarded.

During a lay over on the same trip. Here in Seattle the gray color palette played off the scene I painted earlier. It was a challenge to restrain my self and trust the gray color notes, one living subtly next to the other.