The Wonderful Word for This Wednesday is ‘Transparent’
I had an ‘AHA!’ moment the other day. I can’t remember how it was triggered, but I suddenly realized that my love for all things transparent and translucent in art mirrors my desire for transparency in life and in relationships.
Let’s take a look at the meaning of transparent. Here is what dictionary.com has to say:
- having the property of transmitting rays of light through its substance so that bodies situated behind or behind can be distinctly seen
- admitting the passage of light through
- so sheer as to permit light to pass through
- easily seen through, recognized, or detected
- open, frank, candid
Synonyms include: clear, permeable, cellophane, gossamer, crystalline, vitreous, plain
Antonyms include: blocked, dark, opaque, unclear, vague, unintelligible
Don’t you just love all this talk of letting light through? No wonder I love transparency!
Transparency in Art
Watercolor is a transparent medium and this is in direct contrast to acrylics which are opaque.
Sidebar: Just a little note to say that in both watercolors and acrylics there is a range of transparency, usually indicated on the tube. For this post, however, we are going with generalities: watercolor is generally transparent, and acrylics are generally opaque.
Painting with these different mediums requires completely different processes. I like to paint with both, but watercolor is my first love and continues to be one of my favorite mediums. In fact, I LOVE water itself! Water is translucent, flowy (I think I just made up a word), beautiful, and ever changing. I recently took this short clip of water with light shining through and moving in the wind:
I looked back at my journey in art and creativity and found this thread of transparency throughout the years of my practice. I even developed a ‘gossamer’ series in acrylics where I figured out how to make a translucent image with acrylics over an opaque background.
Transparency even made its way into my digital art:
I long to learn how to paint glass as I love its translucent properties in paintings. Recently I tried my hand at sketching glass and studying its different shadows, values, etc. Here’s my first try:
Now let’s take a closer look at the yellow watercolor flower from the top of this post. I love painting in this way as each layer is seen beneath the new layers. It looks like light is shining right through and it appears quite delicate. Would you agree?
Transparency in Life
This transparency in art as discussed above, mimics relationships. I have always longed for deep, transparent friendships and have several (you know who you are!). Transparent friendships are those in which you can be “easily seen through” all the way to your depths, the good the bad and the ugly, and not be judged. These are the relationships that get us through life a little easier, feeling a little less alone. They are special and delicate.
I say delicate because when you are splaying yourself open and sharing your deep insides, it can be a bit scary. The recipient has to handle this with care. A harsh word in response, or a breach of confidence can shatter these friendships and send someone scuttling off into the shadows to hide and protect their fragile insides. BUT, once you’ve had a good couple of years of practice with these close ones, these friendships are as solid as gold.
Other friendships are more opaque. In these opaque friendships, you may not be able to tell what the other person is thinking or what they hold inside as strong beliefs, views, experiences, etc. and you may not feel that you can share your deep insides. This is perfectly okay! One does not need a ton of transparent friendships, just a few really good ones. And many friendships start out opaque, and as trust grows, turn into lifelong transparent friendships.
I think both transparent and opaque friendships are good, just different, like watercolors and acrylics.
Here’s hoping you all have a few transparent friendships to help you get through this messy life! AND, here’s to transparency in art! What examples do you have? I’d love to see them!
Kimberly Snider, Virtuoso, signing off