Tag: watercolour painting

Wagging school

Having read an article about truancy in The Press this morning, here I am not going to my 10 o’clock watercolour class. My reasons aren’t as tragic as those of students who don’t go to school, just a feeling that I’ve made a mistake enrolling in this class – although at least the two sessions I have been to so far suggest that it isn’t working for me. (Nothing to do with the very helpful and expert tutor.)

Last night I packed my bag and took some photos to use in today’s class on monochromatic tonal value scale and 3D modelling which I enjoyed last time I did the course three years ago. I was too sluggish to get through this morning’s chores (including two loads of Mum’s washing which is a task fixed to a Monday, somehow) and get there on time, even though I managed it last week.

My 2023 efforts
My 2023 3D Modelling
Lemons for 3D Modelling today
Jug for 3D Modelling today
Copper pots for today’s class – nice shadows
Kitchen scales – perhaps too ambitious for today’s class

My desk is clear of the watercolour gear I’ve packed in my bag, and there is the colouring-in book I haven’t looked at for ages. I feel a little frisson of delight looking at what I’ve completed this year, and there is one partly done. Perhaps that will be my artistic outlet! A bit like my retreats into cosy crime instead of those ‘serious’ books which too often (but not always) are put aside. (Speaking of which, in the process of weeding books from my shelves yesterday, I re-discovered a book about the Anglo-Saxons and have it open on my desk ready to read.)

Writing this post has been like giving myself a ‘talking to’. Time to persevere with the harder options, perhaps?

Calming watercolour

Finally, I found a space in my busy (!) afternoons to begin watercolour painting again. I’m pretty crap at it, but found that the greatest benefit was how calming it is to do, and time passes very quickly as I dabble away. My brush strokes are too heavy, the colours too dark and the book makes it look too easy! Yet it is enjoyable, almost meditative.

The carrots turned out quite well, probably because I drew the shapes first. Maybe I’m just better at colouring in. The cloud is a blob and the eucalyptus lacks the delicacy of the illustration in the book, to put it mildly. Perhaps drawing the lines first would be a good idea. I noticed that Quentin Blake does that with his illustrations for the BFG, sketching first, then applying a wash of watercolour. I did a funny wee sketch on the beach this week in which the proportions of the Port Hills are all wrong and the edge of the sea just looks weird. I quite like the little figure of the dog walker though, even if he looks as if he’s wearing an aqualung and the dog looks kind of pig-like.

Today’s efforts are similarly mixed. I gave up on trying to create the delicate petals of flowers but had greater success with a bunny and a lemon, both using previously sketched outlines. Colouring in may be the way to go!

Still Life

Blue flowers in a glass jar, copied from a book.

The second session of watercolour painting yesterday went better than the discouraging first. I was slightly better pleased with my effort, having decided to attempt still life images with flowers and the shapes of vases and jugs. The translucency of glass interests me – with inspiration from Frances Hodgkins.

Chairs and Pots, 1937
China Shoe, 1942

Well, I will have fun trying anyway!

The shapes of chickens might be achievable as well, such as these images which appeared on the windows on a frosty morning in the weekend. I had moved the decals a few times and the shapes were revealed in the condensation on the glass.

There’s a lot going on this Frances Hodgkins painting, but you may be able to find the chooks in there. I suppose you would call this a busy scene as opposed to a still life.

A Barn in Picardy, 1914

A number of ‘still life’ photographs I have taken at home and in the garden could be useful for inspiration, but I suspect some things are better left as photos!

Here’s a very faded print of the ultimate still life which points out that all our efforts are in vain – which gives me an idea: I could attempt visual metaphors. A dead bee beside the vase of flowers…

Edwaert Collier, 17th Century