I love the translucence and luminosity of watercolor.  The pigment is free to express itself, limited only by the wayward path of the water that touches it and the substance it travels on.  It blurs and has softness of edges, creating mysterious moods and images, hardened only by the absence of water.  

 

And I’ve learned to love oil, too. Once disliked for its opaqueness, oil is a new friend. It, too, can have transparency with hues glowing through many thin layers, challenging the painter to have patience and to think ahead. Only we humans try to imitate the beauty and glory of creatures and landscapes provided us by the greatest of the Old Masters, the creator of our only true originals. We are blessed with the capacity to imitate, and it brings me great joy and draws me closer to God when I view his works and try to paint them.  

 

-Susan Thompson Wahl