“FIRST ECSTASY AND THEN LAUNDRY”

A friend, living in Texas at the time, (who I had met in Bali) send me a photo of her doing wash and I thought it would make for a good painting. Normally I stay away from doing portraits but I decided to take a chance and see if I could capture something. Once again the background was only suggestive of the rural hill country of Texas where she was living. What I liked was the way the light played on her hair…bringing out various shades of browns, red, orange and eventually lightening up to blonde. Her jeans came out well and the camouflage shirt worked. I did not capture her face as well as I would have wanted but it was adequate for the painting. She would probably say it did not look like her.(leaving me with great admiration for watercolor artists who do portraiture work)

The title also refers to the long philosophical talks we had about “life in general”.

Robin Vander Hamm

I specialize in watercolors that are inspired by my world travels. My subject matter ranges from South American landscapes to the flora of California. The use of bright colors, original designs and exotic settings are components I bring to my paintings. The incredible range of transparent watercolor allows me to capture the fragile beauty of a single flower or the somber mood of a gray day. For me, an artist is only limited by their imagination and technical skill. The elements of control and spontaneity make it a challenging endeavor. The thought of ever mastering the medium becomes more and more elusive and perhaps a goal never to be fully achieved.

I find the process of creating watercolors very satisfying and it also provides many side benefits…the greatest of these is the ability to see beauty everywhere.

So please wander through these images. There is some text beneath each. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did creating them.