Spirit Mountains

“Glacial Changes” watercolor 23″x30″ Katie Turner 2022

Mountains have provided refuge to hermits, truth-seekers and daring men.  Their beauty, mystery and preeminence lift our lives above the common ruts of the plains below.  Conquering a mountain is still seen as a spiritual feat even today.  Mountains are inspiring.

It’s true that mountains are often seen as metaphors for life.  We each have our own mountains to climb and challenges to overcome.  I found hours of painting inspiration in the shapes, colors, ridges, lines, textures, structure of the mountains I’ve examined. 

Mountains are one of the Chinese Taoist element symbols and Chinese artists often traditionally feature mountains somewhere in their landscape paintings.  The Taoist mountain symbols are viewed as a gateway to a spiritual place.  They are full of sacred power and are a source of vital energy from the earth.  The Chinese mountains are traditionally painted from imagination as a spiritual act.

I’ve painted more than 200 mountain paintings, with some of my favorites making it into my “Confetti Mountain” Series.  My paintings are done from imagination yet I find the Adirondacks as well as several other mountain ranges I’ve experienced were creeping into my paintings.  My hope is for the viewer to be inspired to a more spiritual place while enjoying my paintings.

If you are in the Syracuse, NY area, please stop by to view my art show and join me at a reception on Oct. 19th, 2022.  Information and location below:

Confetti Mountain Series: Watercolors by Katie Turner

Betts Branch Library (4862 S Salina St., Syracuse, NY  13205)

September 1 through October 31.

Reception held October 19 at 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

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Negative Shapes

Katie Turner, “Floral Connection” 2021, watercolor 30”x23”

Being negative is normally a bad thing and most folks I know avoid negativity.  What I’m really talking about is negative painting. 

Negative painting is a vital technique for watercolor painters.  It’s a simple technique in which the artist concentrates on painting the negative space around a lighter object.  Saving the white of the paper in watercolor is important and negative painting helps make this possible.  

I often use this technique with my floral paintings, as you can see in the painting above and again in the Hops painting below.  I used negative painting to carve out the shape of the red flowers and also with carving out the shape of the Hops flowers.

There are many great teaching artists who have created helpful instructions on negative painting.  One artist that comes to mind is Linda Kemp.  She even has a book on negative painting in watercolor.

Perhaps being negative with watercolor is a positive thing!  Whether you’re an artist or an art aficionado do you have a favorite technique?  I’d love to hear from you.

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Katie Turner, “Garden Hops” 2021, watercolor 23”x30”