New Year’s ‘97
Watercolor by JoAutumn Brock

The method I use to create these unusual images is that I start with very wet watercolor paper and lay dry but flat leaves on it. Then I drop on pure colors without mixing them. As the paint dries the colors mix themselves randomly. The leaves act as sponges and draw the paint towards them leaving halos and squiggly shapes around and between them. After the paper is bone dry (overnight) I lift the leaves off. Then I spend days or weeks pondering the abstract image until it tells me what is hiding in there that wants to be made visible. I listen to the picture and we create the final image together.