I have written about American painter Ali Cavanaugh a few times over the years. How can I not when she keeps producing work that looks like this!? They are, as she calls them “modern watercolor frescos”. Here’s the description of her process:

“Ali Cavanaugh carefully layers watercolor pigment on a wet kaolin clay surface using tiny round synthetic brushes. Her methods of layering translucent pigment on the white surface give the paintings a sense of  being lit from behind … The luminous quality is often described by collectors as being transcendent or sublime and the detail and light can only be experienced in person. She has spent the last seven years developing her inimitable process and refers to her paintings as “modern frescoes” because they are so uniquely different than what we know of as traditional watercolor paintings … The panels for Cavanaugh’s paintings are constructed by Ampersand Art Supply located in Buda, Texas. Ampersand first treats the wood panels with its trademarked ‘Archivalseal’ primer and then they coat the panels with a ph balanced kaolin clay veneer. This archival clay coating is delicate to the touch but very durable to the watercolor medium.”

Wow, right?