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Humor in Work?

Does your happy sense of humor ever show up in your work?

  Sidney Oliver

Sid, the short answer is that my sense of humor most likely shows up in my pen & ink with watercolor montages where I combine animals, bugs, buildings, and whimsical designs. You can see examples of these by clicking here: Pen & Ink with Watercolor Washes.

At times I have needed some work that is smaller and fun and these fit the bill. For instance, the piece above is titled "Foxes in the Chicken Coop." Foxes are in the corner surrounded by chicken wire with chickens in the center. I do the basic pen & ink work, have a printer run off copies, and I hand watercolor each one. These are more decorative and they are interesting to plan. The monotony ensues by hand-watercoloring each one.

I began painting by using this technique in very small, almost miniature, paintings. A majority of my earlier work was of buildings in Europe and it was shortly before I returned from Paris within the last 10 years that I came up with the idea of doing purely decorative pieces using borders. Therefore, it's not surprising that the first was of the Louvre complete with Frenchy-type motifs in the border as seen above and in Where Is the Line Between Fine Art & Fine Craft?

Out in the Country

12X16" Watercolor on Paper

Thus began the foray into the truly whimsical. It was based on a story I heard about a Washington, DC resident who wanted to have a weekend home in the country. Once he remodeled and settled in, he realized he didn't like bugs or the other annoyances that one finds in rural environments.

He sold within 6 months. 

I want every single painting to be challenging and fun. I play with each painting so much that my painting process might appear as if I'm a cat tantalizing a mouse. I halfway kill it in order to bring it back. This is not a technique I would recommend.

Can humor be felt in my oil paintings? Probably not, but I do hope the feeling of amusement I've had while working is apparent.

Stop reading now unless you want to read a meandering thought process delving into my theories on escaping the woes of the world in order to remain happy and focused.

As for my other watercolors and oils, I can't say there is much humor involved other than for me to in a good frame of mind when I work. That means keeping the news, stress, and any type of drama as far away as possible. To me, painting is more important than worrying and becoming morose about something of which I have no control. I may be an ostrich, but I prefer to be productive rather than to be controlled by the actions of others. Life throws a lot of unpleasantness our way with which we DO need to confront. Why multiply it?

I guess I learned this technique due to a couple of movies with Old Yeller being the first. I vowed never, ever to watch a movie with an animal in it again unless I knew before watching that all ended well. That movie was traumatizing and I couldn't understand why anyone willingly would put themselves through it. The next movie, which was probably over my head at the time, and I don't care to find out any more about it than what I witnessed during my freshman year in college, was Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?. When I returned to my dorm at Gulf Park College, I became physically sick. That incessant arguing and unpleasantness were detrimental to my well-being.

I could give other examples using books and world events, but I find it much more worthwhile for me to concentrate on painting and by painting, I can help others experience the wonderful, beautiful, and, yes, humorous world in which we share.

Enjoy life! We ain't here long. Have fun with it.

Enjoy the process!

   Ruthie Windsor-Mann

This post is part of a series of Q & As between Ruthie Windsor-Mann and Sidney Oliver. 

We invite the reader to join in with other questions in the comments section. This needs to be interactive in order to work.

All photographs are by Ruthie Windsor-Mann unless otherwise credited.

Copyright 2019 Ruthie Windsor-Mann All Rights Reserved