John Recco

 


 

New

 

Watercolors

 

 

 

ELEPHANT WATERCOLOR STATEMENT

I enjoyed working with the imagery of elephants based on Indian miniatures in my work from the past few years so I decided to do the same series again but much smaller, and in watercolor on paper. I was looking forward to the challenge of a smaller format and a medium that I don't use very often.

The earlier paintings are done in oil and are much larger, all of them are eight feet tall. These watercolors are on paper and only 24 x 32” in comparison. I hoped to capture the intensity and detail of the original work but create a more intimate and concentrated experience so the paintings use the elephant imagery as a point of departure where the way in which they are painted becomes as important as the subject matter itself.

For me, using water color and brush is a process of strategic mark making, where the accumulation of shapes, colors and lines applied to the paper can help build and contribute to the totality of a complete image. It's a combination of faith and experience, because each mark in and of itself is relatively small and insignificant but when it is added to all the rest you end up with an intense and compelling image that is energized by the persistent and obsessive act of wanting to see something develop and unfold in front of my own eyes.