Oh dear.  It seems that these class go in cycles!  Once again I’m less happy with this week from a point of view of the art generated – although I’m pleased in terms of what I learned!

This week was watercolours proper.  Most of the class was spent doing simple exercises – doing a basic structure in charcoal, and then colouring in with watercolours, and practising blending colours together.  Very hard!

Here’s a selection of my practice images:

I was determined to leave the class with an actual piece of art.  I’m never very happy just doing exercises, unless it leads to something!

So I had a go at a watercolour portrait, with about 20 minutes to go!  This was a bit of an experiment for me.  I started with a very quick charcoal outline, then did a watercolour background wash, and then painted in the detail with almost undiluted watercolour paint on my brush, so that it was spread by the wetness of the paper.

I really enjoyed the process.  I don’t think the result was brilliant, but I’m happy with where I got given the really tight time-scale and the fact that it was a first attempt:

I also think it works better until you compare it to the original, but in the interests of transparency here’s the comparison!