Micro Gallery

Dave Sims – Watercolors

Dave Sims’ watercolor paintings are a submission to the chance of creation and a surrender to emptiness.



AFTER OVER THIRTY YEARS of teaching writing and literature to recalcitrant college students I developed a heathy and respectful distrust of language, and after retiring from that career I’ve spent the past five years committed primarily to working on my own visual art, exploring the potential of both traditional and digital media.

Walking Like a Big Boy Now
Walking Like a Big Boy Now

I believe that at least one strand of whatever it is that fuels my creative process is very much akin to Zen—a surrender of the self to the emptiness. With these watercolors, I began with no preconceived design. I placed a few drops of water into a shallow bowl of ebony soapstone and began to swirl and rub the ink stick of pine and soot and ash until the liquid turned silky, smooth and dark.

She Was Kinda Cute Like That
She Was Kinda Cute Like That

I picked up the various wolf hair brushes, and simply surrendered to the lines and shapes that flowed into the thick, absorbent paper.

Places I'd Like to Live: Ice Blue Mountains
Places I’d Like to Live: Ice Blue Mountains

Sometimes I augmented those emergences with thick and/or thin markers, small dabs of concentrated Chinese paints, more water until—usually with no concerns about time or purpose—words began to enter, and those words then influenced any additional lines and shapes and colors until the work told me it was complete.

Pregnant Girl on Railroad Tracks
Pregnant Girl on Railroad Tracks

Of course, there are stories imbedded in these pieces. I believe we live in an interconnected world of infinite stories, after all.

Old Man Sneezing Beneath His Mask
Old Man Sneezing Beneath His Mask

In addition to teaching, my many years of reading and writing influence the titles that comprise and complete each work. Because words also shape the worlds we inhabitant (whether we like it or not), as the pieces enter the viewer/reader’s mind, the titles interact with the images so that, ideally, the single page tells the entire tale.

Monk Contemplates Water
Monk Contemplates Water

I strive to have little to no intentions regarding the paintings I make. I open myself up to the universe, silence the words in my head as best as I am able, and seek with a full heart to capture some visions from worlds that coexist simultaneously with this one that we call real.

Buffalo Calf and Wolves
Buffalo Calf and Wolves

Dave Sims

Dave Sims makes art and music in the old mountains of central Pennsylvania. His traditional and digital paintings and comix appear in dozens of tangible and virtual publications and exhibits, while his totems continue to catch the eyes of many strangers, and his guitar playing and singing still leave listeners shaking their heads in disbelief. See his website at www.tincansims.com

Leave a Reply