Plate 21: Main Altarpiece: From Portfolio "Spanish Colonial Designs of New Mexico" 1935 - 1942

This is Plate 21: Main Altarpiece from the portfolio "Spanish Colonial Designs of New Mexico", made with watercolor by an anonymous artist. There's a directness to the mark-making and color choices here, a feeling that the artist is working things out as they go. The palette is restrained and earthy, built from pinks, reds, yellows and blues, each carefully chosen and placed to create a sense of balance. The paint application is thin and transparent, allowing the paper to show through in places. Look at the way the red pigment pools and settles, creating subtle variations in tone. You can sense the artist building up the image layer by layer, each stroke a deliberate act of construction. It reminds me of work by Forrest Bess, another artist who embraced intuition and improvisation in his process. But what is striking here is that they are both working with a sense of the unknown, trusting their instincts and allowing the painting to lead them where it may.