watercolor on paper

Creativity takes courage, as the famous old master, Henri Matisse said. I believe creativity is to make something that I have never done or tried before. To nurture creativity would mean not only looking inward– into my ideas and imagination, but also outward–creation of God and man made words, ideas and things. It also helps not to hang out too much at the online sphere, lest the creativity will die–at least for me.

Freya Pickard‘s words feed my creativity. For last year’s cover of the December Clipping, she gave me a snippet of the story that I would draw inspiration from.

Stiffly, he rose to his feet and straightened his back. Hobbling to the door he bolted it fast and then turned and extinguished all but one of the candles. He lifted a smooth, unadorned silver bowl from a shelf and set it on a low table near the embers of the fire. Beside the door stood a silver jug with water that his servant had collected last full moon from the hill streams nearby. Carefully, the old man poured the water into the bowl, not spilling a drop. Setting the jug on the floor he waited for the water in the bowl to become still, feeling the ache in legs and back. He waited, feeling the minutes pass towards midnight. Eventually he stooped and breathed once on the water’s surface. Mist swirled in the clear depths, parting to reveal rocky crags and moss-covered trees. Merlin stared silently, watching the visions as they unfolded to reveal a twisted, grey peak of stone. He shivered as he waved a hand over the bowl and the pictures vanished.

The word rocky crags inspire me. I started a wet on wet painting of the background, using lots of cool colors like blue and purple. Then I sprinkled a bit of salt over the wet wash for a snowy effect. Once the background was dry, I painted the foreground mountain filled with crevices like roots using bold colors. I enjoyed using lots of water as I work on the mountains and the moss covered trees. Finally I used a dampened brush to lift up the colors from the sky in a circular motion to reveal a fainted moon. I certainly feel a bit chilly now! ;)

Thank you so much Freya for your patience and help. It was fun collaborating with you!

If you wish to receive the December Clippings, please email Freya at dragonscaleclippings (at) gmail (dot) com with “Subscribe Clippings” on the subject line.

PS* I am currently brainstorming on another cover for this year’s March Clipping. Stay tuned!