I spent nearly 12 years of my life working in a virtual medium. I use virtual tools – palettes, layers, masks; and virtual pigments – pixels. This is my first thought as I stand in front of my Arches cold-press watercolor paper block.
During all these years I have created corporate graphical user interfaces and “collateral” artworks while I explored the whole richness of the digital medium.
I have learned to draw using vectors, to paint using pixels, erase without marks and undo without limit. I have mastered the techniques of digital image manipulation and am expert in the mixing of RGB hues and values using only a mouse. I’ve learned to look at the monitor as if it were a canvas and do not expect any aleatory accident except from the crash of the system.
Watercolors require water, pigments, brushes and paper. The brush stroke becomes an irreversible mark. The transparency of watercolor and the washes, a wet-in-wet technique is exciting. The thin veils of color create a luminosity that can be achieved with no other medium.
After nearly 12 years of creating digital work and art and living within an intense, cybernetic society, I have returned to watercolor media – a more tangible and less sophisticated set of materials and techniques. This is my last thought as I turn off my Apple G4 Macintosh computer.
JavierRoca New York 2003