“Spring Blossom” by Lawrence BergquistToday I’m celebrating Spring with this lovely watercolor painting by my friend Lawrence. Lawrence grew up in the Pacific Northwest and studied graphic design and illustration at Western Washington University. His love of art started as a child reading comic books. “I really wanted to be a comic book artist. I even sent samples in to DC comics several times when I was teenager, I still have the rejection letters. I guess I am still little bit of a comic book geek but I don't collect like I did when I was young.”
Jen: Tell me about your inspiration for your latest work “Spring Blossom.”
Lawrence: Over the last 4 or 5 years I have gotten back into doing water colors. When I was down in Santa Fe New Mexico I saw the work of this watercolor artist that was just incredible, I wish I could remember his name. His paintings were amazing, nothing like any watercolor I have ever seen. There was a shine and a layering effect that created incredible depth. I've been trying to figure out how he did it, and have been playing around with adding extra Gum Arabic to the color mix. Gum Arabic is the liquid that is used to put the dyes/powders into solution to create the water colors in tubes, so it's not like I am creating a mixed media painting. The Blossom painting is my first real attempt at creating the depth I witnessed in those paintings in Santa Fe. The image itself is from a photo I took almost a year ago near where I live. I did a few other rough versions of it but I didn't like them because of the background, that's why I reduced it and let blooms and leaves kind of explode out.
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