I am starting a new watercolor painting of one of my favorite works of architecture from the 20th century–“Falling Water” by Frank Lloyd Wright. It’s a great work. It is the culmination of Wright’s architectural visions for many years before it was formally designed on paper and built. I know this from reading his book. Wright tells the story of how the client for the house was two hours away when he called and asked about how the house design was coming along. Wright told him that he should start driving now if he wants to see the ideas he had ready to present. But nothing had been started except what Wright had in his head. Wright quickly summoned the help of his interns to create the drawings based on his direction over the next two hours. Two hours later when the client arrived, this masterpiece was revealed.
As an architectural artist I will attempt to capture the spirit of this great work. Watercolor is a sequential medium where values and colors are layered and built up over time. I would like to add “screen shots” of my progress on the painting to show how the process works along the way. So the first image is the genesis with some preliminary values filled in to begin to define the house and environs. Limited palette, sprinkling warm or cool color around in a balanced application to serve as underpainting. Most of these areas will be overpainted at a later time, but not all. The second image shows further areas of underpainting–the more white areas get painted, the greater emphasis is put on the white areas that remain. I see the flowing waterfall as the primary element that will ultimately stay white. I also want to use the same colors in the house and use them in the landscape in order to confirm Wright’s vision of organic architecture that springs from the earth naturally.
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