After studying the painting read  RECAPITULATION
Then return to finish the lesson.

Painting is visual poetry. Poets, like artists, are inspirated by some higher muse and
employ visual language and metaphors to express deeper thoughts and feelings.

TRANSPARENCY  An image-development strategy used to add visual, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual meaning to a painting. Transparency also refers to a technique of layering translucent veils of colour allowing the undercoat or drawing to emerge. Transparency within a painting can represent higher states of consciousness--lucid, clear, fully intelligible. Sveva Caetani writes:

Transparency of mind and vision is awareness so heightened that it is an astonishemnt, a world reborn. Sometimes, when viewing a natural scene, this awareness comes, and one entersinto the very air, plants, water and sky around as if all, including oneself, were a deep transparency.

MULTIPLE VIEW POINTS  Seeing from different standpoints. From above and below simultaneously. Seeing inside and outside in the same image. Look at the paintings background. You feel like you are looking down a river. Then notice the leg of the figure. It is seems to be dragging behind in the river, while stepping through door. These doors are like glass. They become very focus and sharp in the middle. The multiple viewpoints also expresses how we can perceive the same scene, object or idea in different ways.

VISION  Sveva's RECAPITULATION  series was inspired by a vision. Around 1973 she was driving to Lumby where she taught highschool art. She suddenly perceived in perfect clarity painting after painting. After work, she went home and began sketching these images until she had about 50. After this unusual experience, she began painting. For 14 years she relentlessly finished each of these paintings. They are unusual, in that they are very complex and large--usually four by five feet, yet there are no mistakes. This is very difficult in watercolour. Many of us experience visions. They can be in the form of ultr clear thoughts, telepathy, understanding of concepts, or a sudden realization.

ACTIVITY  Using masking tape, stretch and secure a piece of watercolour paper onto a board. Begin with a small sheet about 12 x 16 inches. Lightly draw a landscape with multiple viewpoints. Then include yourself as a transparent form. Use layers of pure diluted watercolour and build up several layers. Each layer should reveal a different aspect of your theme. Be sure to dry each layer before apply the next. Sveva Caetani used this technique for all her paintings. She started with a light warm wash like ochre, then added more layersof colour until she achieved the right tone. Finally she used a dry brush and carefully added small stroke of paint for texture.