first light, harbor
A study in raw sienna and Naples yellow — the way morning fog dilutes color until buildings dissolve into wet sky.
study no. 014 · 2026 · plein airlayer2.quest
A folio of translucent layers — lift each sheet of wet tracing paper and discover another painting underneath.
02
the collection
Salon-style hang — works of differing sizes clustered together, painted zones laid over bare paper. Drift through and let your eye land where it pleases.
orchard, late afternoon
Salt blooms and granulation — the paper drinks until pigment settles in valleys and sings on peaks.
study no. 027 · 2026 · arches 300gsmthree indigos
PB60 indanthrene laid heavy at the lower edge, pulled upward with a clean brush — the void that holds the sketchbook together.
note · 2026 · indigo washstone pines, ridge road
Burnt umber laid wet-on-wet against Payne's grey. The pines stayed silhouetted while the sky bled past them.
study no. 031 · 2026 · ridgeinterior, cup of coffee
Sepia and Naples yellow — the warm interior light reflected off porcelain. The cup is loose, almost a guess, but it knows it's a cup.
study no. 044 · 2026 · interioralizarin afterthought
A rose madder bloom spilled where it wasn't expected. Left it. The painting is better for it.
note · 2026 · pr83rooftops, salon view
Grey-violet wash dragged across rough paper. Tiles are merely a rhythm of dry-brush flicks where the pigment skipped.
study no. 052 · 2026 · rooftopriver bend, wet edge
The wet edge between water and bank — where the paper let everything pool. Khaki earth and yellow ochre conversed.
study no. 058 · 2026 · riverfig, on a saucer
Two figs and a saucer of sepia ink. The whole study took eleven minutes — the paper decided when it was finished.
study no. 061 · 2026 · still life
03
the study
A single painting watched as it was assembled — bottom layer first, then the middle, then the top, like watching another painter at work in a studio you accidentally walked into.
The collage is built by hand. The torn edges aren't decorative; they're the inevitable result of pulling rag paper apart with damp fingers. You can hear the fibers separate.
When the layers settle into place, the painting reveals itself the way watercolor always does: not in any individual stroke, but in the conversation between strokes — the dry edges meeting wet edges, pigment pooling where the brush hesitated, granulation showing the texture of the paper beneath.
04
the palette
Nine pigments from the mixing tray. Hover and they bloom — pigment hitting wet paper, spreading until the wash decides where to stop.
Cold-press white
paper ground
Raw sienna
PY42 · iron oxide
Burnt umber
PBr7 · calcined earth
Yellow ochre
PY43 · natural earth
Payne's grey
indigo · diluted
Sepia
NBr6 · cuttlefish
Naples yellow
PY41 · lead antimonate
Alizarin tint
PR83 · rose madder
Deep indigo wash
PB60 · indanthrene
05
the layers
Three sheets of wet tracing paper, offset, overlapping. Where they meet, the colors mix additively — read each panel alone, then read them together.
layer one
Raw sienna ground
The first wash — laid generous, edge to edge, while the paper was still slick. PY42 settles into the texture and warms everything beneath it. Read this panel alone and you see warmth, slowness, a held breath.
layer two
Payne's grey, dragged
A cool wash dragged across the still-damp sienna. The greys settle deepest where the paper hollows, granulating in valleys, drifting at the edges. Where the two layers meet, the warmth turns introspective.
layer three
Alizarin bloom
The last gesture — a single drop of alizarin tint dropped into the wet wash, spreading on its own terms. The drop is a question. The painting answers in patches of rose held inside cooling grey.
No. 06
layer2.quest
a folio kept in the studio · written and painted over the long mornings of an indeterminate spring