Intermediate Watercolor Homework 5/26/11

Letting Go 

Charles Burchfield

We have practiced several approaches to deliberately oversimplifying an image, with the goal of discovering what needs to be in a painting, and what can be edited out. Somehow, though, the information often remains elusive.
I would like to see what happens if you get really serious about refining your image down to its essence. Make a study of the major shapes in which you assign each shape a single color and value, with no texture. That should strip away anything inessential, and probably some of what you wish were still there. Take notes about which is which, and make a more personal version, putting back the minimum amount of what you feel needs to be included.
This isn't new stuff, but I think it bears repeating.

George Post