Alignment (6 AM) Print

This was what I saw on at 6 AM on April 8, 2014, from my dining room window while I waited for my sick dog Tizzy who had to go out to the dog pen. I saw the red planet dimly off to my right and another star further up and to the left, which was Aldebaran in Taurus. I traced a curve with my finger on the glass from the star to the planet to the neighbor's yard light across the road. All that was needed to fill out the parabola was a crow in the tree. If that wasn't enough of an ambush, I discovered that on that morning Mars, Earth and the Sun were in perfect alignment, an opposition which occurs every 26 months. So I have to thank Tizzy for this one. One of his last gifts to me. This is on heavy watercolor paper, 30.5 x 23 inches, mounted on 34.5 x 27 inch 3/16" archival foamcore, ready for framing. (I also made a linocut of this image, available in my Saatchi Linocuts collection, and you can watch me making it here: www.warrencriswell.com/video-making_Alignment_lino.html.) WATERCOLORS When I returned to representational art in the late '70s, watercolor was my first love - probably because it was so different in technique from the abstract oils I had done back in Florida eight years earlier. I became a transparent watercolor purist, working from light to dark, no opaque paint, ever. I used masking fluid in all kinds devious ways to achieve intricate highlights I couldn't get by painting around them. I got over the purism eventually, and sumi dishes from Japan became my preferred watercolors. Some of the lighter colors are more translucent than transparent and can be almost opaque if dry-brushed, allowing me to use them on black paper a few times - something unheard of the watercolor world! But mostly I use white paper for light, and I still use the masking fluid when necessary. I try to get the same high contrast, dramatic chiaroscuro effects in my watercolors as in my oil paintings.

Print:Giclee on Fine Art Paper

Size:9 W x 12 H x 0.1 D in

Size with Frame:14.25 W x 17.25 H x 1.2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.