Peggy Brown

Nashville, Indiana

Peggy Brown’s delicate watercolors combine organic forms, created by the chance movement of pigment, with ordered rows of small squares deliberately placed across the surface. Quilted lines run busily back and forth, emphasizing some areas and blending others together. Like some type of mysterious map, they are signposts to the artist’s lifelong fascination with color and paint.

Three Times Three 43 x 53 inches

top: Tulips and Trees 40 x 39 inches bottom: Landscape/Sunrise Sunset 39 x 36 inches

Collaboration with the medium My art is a collaboration between watercolor–the medium; and myself— the artist. I think we both enjoy our- selves. I emphasize the “water” part of watercolor, because I work extremely wet so the pigments follow their own designs: some granulate and make tex- tures, others stain, others mix and form beautiful sensitive colors. It takes time and experience for a painter to learn to let watercolor be watercolor. I let the medium do its own thing, then I take over and finish things up. I feel we work well together.

Painting on paper and fabric I paint on both paper and fabric. I use the same media (transparent water- color), tools, and methods for both. To begin the process I place the substrate on a waterproof surface. Then I wet the paper or fabric with water from a sponge or a spray bottle and freely brush on paint allowing the pigments to mingle and follow their personal paths. As the paint dries, shapes and colors begin to emerge that I could never totally plan or predict. During this initial step I let the medium with its impetuous yet sensitive manner be my guide, while I assert only semi-control.

Usually I repeat the first step several times to add more texture, depth and richness. During the second part of the journey I look over the painted base and let the surface design inspire me.

Moments 43 x 40 inches

Since the wet paint flows through the fabric, the textures can be more interesting on the reverse side and often the back becomes my new front. Following the suggested imagery on the painted substrate, I begin laying out several different designs using painted and transferred fabrics and papers from my stash. When I’m happy with the design, I fuse the collage to the background and tie everything together with more painting, collage and drawing. My goal is to take a free-flowing start, and using collage, overlays of more pigment and drawing, compose a welldesigned finish.

Moments An example is Moments, which began with a digital transfer to tissue paper. The image of the transfer was of a section of one of my paintings on paper. I coated the transfer with acrylic. When dry, I tore the paper into angled sections, rearranged their order and mounted them on a previously painted square piece of cotton. Next I painted a large piece of silk with colors to complement the center. I tore some unpainted tissue paper into geometric forms, painted, arranged and fused them, along with the central square piece, onto the painted silk. After re-painting and brushing acrylic matte medium over the paper sections, I painted around and over the edges of the collage with grey to unite all sections. Softly painted silk borders on the top and bottom and little collaged squares that lead the eye through the image completed my design.

Transparency My geometric shapes are abstracted from my old paintings of Victorian houses, barns, etc. Tree branches inspire the organic lines that flow through most of my work. I like the juxtaposition of the geometric forms with the organic lines and the fact that the geometric shapes anchor the design while the organic lines unite it.

I try to express images that appear on, above, and below the surface. I do this by keeping all layers transparent with the use of transparent paint, transparent papers, and at times transparent fabric such as organza and interfacing. I invite the viewer to follow as I work and see through the topmost layer, through the intermediate layers, to the substrate with its beginning of the design.

Shades of Italy III 41 x 31 inches