Watercolor, Art Deco & the Travel Poster

It has been ages since I have executed a watercolor painting. Nowadays, I almost exclusively use gouache as it produces an even matte tone suitable for screenprinting.

However, if a commissioned piece is to be color-copied from a high-quality scan, watercolor makes a wonderful showing.

The poster pictured draws its origins from a decidedly Art Deco aesthetic. I designed the alphabet used for the font myself based on various Art Deco alphabets. Inspiration from 1920s French travel posters provided beach scenes and coastal play portraying leisure summer afternoons perfectly coinciding with the notion of a summer camp located directly on the beautiful Pacific Ocean.

An Art Deco Explosion

When I first moved to Portland it was November and we were subletting an apartment with little insulation nor finished flooring.

The cold air seeped into every nook; every cranny touched by an almost Artic chill. One room was kept heated. Using reruns of Perry Mason as ambient noise, I painted and painted and painted.

The time spent there was my most prolific.

Constructing an entire series out of one word titles and beautiful women, I chose my favorites to be screenprinted. Eventually a few designs out of a large pile (piles are the measure of all things) were screenprinted onto tees, totes, aprons, prints, cards and journals.

The title "Explosive" is both French and English. The style Art Deco but the fashion 1960s mod London.