I was lounging around and caught a documentary on lotus root harvesters. That is a job I could never do. There were times that I had to put on my waders to repair the banks along the creek behind my house and I was totally exhausted in 5 minutes trying to free my feet from the mud.
I was impressed with how poetic it seemed; heading out in the waking morning, traversing the waterways to the lotus pond, pushing off the long poles to propel the sampans, gliding.
I suppose it would be poetic only if one ignores the imminent hard labor. Still I pretend to be in the company of fellow harvesters, forming a queue, pushing off, anticipating the bounty, day dreaming a little in the early dawn mist.
I chose to use a rather dark Prussian Blue/Ink combination. I thought ink alone would be too subdued. I would use different tones to expand the spatial relationship's. I wanted to present the objects against the light, for a silhouette effect, and using the different orientations of the long poles to add interest and direct attention.
I brushed on some darker color onto the closest subject, for a better contrast. Using a clean brush and clean water I moistened a thin margin around the outline so the color/ink would migrate out a little. This was done to avoid a harsh outline presented by the overwhelming dark patch.
The alteration added drama to the first edition.
Lets all forge ahead and make this a successful new year!
