Spontaneous vs. Controlled

Nita Engle (American, 1925-2019) was a watercolorist who combined wild spontaneity with a controlled focus.

In her book "How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself," she says: "My method of working consists of two parts: a wild, spontaneous phase, in which I aim to create a field of texture that will give the illusion of, say, water, a daisy field, trees, or whatever; and a realism phase, in which I select small areas, usually in the foreground, and add careful detail so the viewer's eye will read the rest as reality."

"In the first phase I apply the water and paint and follow it wherever it leads with no censoring....After the paint is dry, the thinking phase begins."

Book: "How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself" by Nita Engle

Thanks, Jared.