“This Side of Morning”
2009, watercolor and collage, 14” x 21”
Reprinted by permission of Nan Daly.
All rights reserved.
Paths of Color
Abstract Landscapes in Watercolor and Mixed Media
by Nan Daly
January 4 - February 14, 2010
Gallery Hours
Mon - Thurs, 10 A.M. - 4 P.M.
Sun 10 A.M. - noon
Opening Reception
Friday, January 22, 6-8 P.M.
Artist’s Statement
These fourteen paintings are part of an on-going series. For the past 8 years I have been exploring imaginary landscapes through watercolor and mixed media paintings. I am drawn to the illusion of texture and the subtle blends of color possible with watercolor. and I enjoy working with the fragility of the thin unryu papers that I stain and collage onto the pieces.
The paintings begin with fluid watercolor followed by texturing techniques, such as impressing materials, monoprinting, or spraying paint. At this point, the work is purely abstract. After the texturing materials have been removed, the resulting images often evoke a memory or sense of landscape, frequently the orchards and Catskill Mountains of my childhood. I enhance what I see with direct painting, geometric forms or collage. I enjoy the contrast of the loose flowing beginnings with the hard-edged forms imposed later. Working in this way is like solving a series of puzzles.
I follow paths of color from random, unfamiliar beginnings to visions of imaginary and evocative places. The final puzzles—where is that? what is that?—are left open to the viewer’s imagination.