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Manzanar Transfiguration. DETAIL. Original watercolor by Woody Hansen
(Click image to view entire painting)
I painted this piece on a Sunday afternoon at the recent Henry Fukuhara Manzanar Watercolor Workshop. This is one of several paintings from three different locations, a working ranch, the Alabama Hills, and Manzanar..
Overall, the workshop weather was exceptionally pleasant, in the low eighties each day. Although, the infamous Owens Valley-Manzanar wind kicked up a bit Sunday afternoon. As a result, I painted this outdoors but not on site. But then, I – for some time now – rarely paint in front of my subject. Instead, I prefer to work from a value sketch done on site. As I’ve noted before, once one has a value sketch the painting can be painted at any location. In this case, Manzanar Transformation was accomplished outdoors, in a wind protected area of the motel at which I was staying.
There’s an old saying that a watercolor painter is wise to remember that “less is more.” Henry often spoke of that saying. In this case, if there were much less there would be no painting at all (ouch)! In tribute to Henry, I modified my original sketch by adding the Manzanar cemetery monument. I also was careful to accentuate the corners of the guard house roof. I have fond memories of Henry lecturing us about the “correct” way to paint that particular roof. There’s more to the story, but that mighty best wait for another time and place.
The last strokes added to the painting are those two oblique lines near the lower center on the right side of the painting. Despite the initial appearance of being of little significance, I believe those two simple marks are, in actuality. major – not minor – parts of the whole design. Less is more.
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