About two weeks ago, as I was drinking my morning maté on our back terrace, I was struck by the light penetrating the outstretched leaves of our potted agave attentuata. So I grabbed my handy-dandy watercolor box and began to sketch it in.

My initial format was horizontal (landscape). What intrigued/challenged me was the silvered edges of the broad leaves. Would it/could it be possible to hold those thin edges back? I knew it would mean retaining the white of the paper, meanwhile filling in all the surrounding contrasts using hue, value and saturation. With watercolor I already knew just how challenging that can be.

So, after getting down a linear design that I liked, I used a combination of masking tape and latex masking fluid to hold back those fine edges. In the end I did three different versions: I switched to vertical (portrait) for the latter two. I experimented with the masking challenge as well as hammering out a simplified composition. I knew upfront that I wanted to accentuate three main chromatic areas; the challenge was finding which “background” landscape elements to include. The gesture of the agave was my guiding light.

Oh yes, and for those who are familiar with my penchant for the circle, I chose to include a yellow halo to help accentuate the stretching of that agave. I think it’s effective – yet hopefully subtle enough to avoid being formulaic. For today, I’m happy.

If you are interested in this piece shoot me an email.