Sunflowers in watercolours

Sunflower Day

Painted in Watercolours

I'm really enjoying working on the Saunders Waterford paper for a change. It reacts in different ways to the Arches. The Sunflowers were shouting to be painted, after one failed result. I attacked with a calm and open mind or Brush!! In fact I mainly used a flat synthetic brush for most of the painting. 

It started with  dampened paper, I added weak washes of paint, moved the board around. Stronger values were added along with sprinkles of salt and sprays of fine water. I painted it all in one wet in wet sitting. No hairdryer, just a cool room letting the paint softly merge together.

Gosh it was fun. I wondered about more detail?

But the brush has been laid down and the artist is happy with the outcome :-)

www.watercolourcourse.co.uk

On location with watercolours

 

I found myself a nice spot next to the riverbank, with one easel leg in the river. The water was easy to retrieve for paints, I dealt with the nettles next to me and settled down to paint. The sun shone and lit the view perfectly lit, birds sung and the Sheep wondered what I was up to. You can't beat painting on location on days like these.

No sketching, I wanted a loose and free approach. Saunders Waterford behaved well with no pre stretching, and the sun dried the paint fairly rapidly.

 

 

This was a rough sketch, one to enjoy the painting process in a beautiful place. Taking photo's along the way of your work does help, especially when you can look back and think, I quite liked this before I put a wretched tree in!

 

 

I looked up and saw I had an audience, I think they will definitely go in the next painting of this scene.

 

 

 

Number One art critic was still happy catching fish

 

So the paints came out again, a couple of Birch trees catching the evening light and pretty wild flowers leading the way.

 

 

 

 

I masked the trees and then the fun began, I do love throwing  the paint in gay abandon and letting the paint decide the outcome. I rubbed some wax on the paper to help the Cow parsley, but could have done with a little more and a few pastels or Gouache would have been handy.

 

Fancy learning about the joys of  English watercolours www.watercolourcourse.co.uk
The Online course can be completed anywhere, it doesn't need to be on the side of a river bank.
Utah, Hawaii, Auckland, Seattle  or even London!

 

Jam jar and Daisies

Jam Jar and Daisies
Painted in watercolours
Another go at this hard little still life, trying to capture glass and beautiful blooms
Winsor violet, permanent Rose and lemon yellow all played main roles . I have some new Saunders Waterford paper ordered let's see if it makes a difference.

Fancy joining my online watercolor course it's suitable for beginners who would like to learn the art of this amazing meduim www.watercolourcourse.co.uk