Every person I talk to, as soon as I tell them I paint watercolour, responds “Oh that’s the most difficult medium!” What no-one mentions is that EVERYTHING is difficult at the beginning – learning to drive a manual car, knitting, golf, baking a sponge cake, cryptic crosswords (strike that!! They’re still my enemy!!).

How has this daft idea become so pervasive? It’s been around a long time, probably perpetuated by people who want control and find they can’t. I find the comment to be exceedingly boring and have to stop myself rolling my eyes. I will have to create a witty response that gets them thinking or running!

For people like me, we like a little mess, I like watching the paint and water run, I like to watch the colours collide and bleed into each other. I love a little (or big) special nuance borne out of a brush misstep. I love making something out of nothing. I love the lyrical and poetic nature of watercolour.

The missing link here is expectations. I expect watercolour to do what watercolour does, what it’s designed to do – run in water! I don’t expect (or want) it to act like oil or acrylic paint. I love the true beauty of watercolour with runs, bleeds and blends.

What brought this about was a video “15 mistakes and how to fix them”. There was actually only one true “watercolour mistake” (can’t remember what it was!). The “mistakes” were about fixing compositional problems, the enemy of all artists and not relegated to only painters of watercolour. HAPPY ACCIDENTS – beautiful running and bleeding of colour – NO PAINTING OUTSIDE THE LINES!! OMG!! WHAT A DRAG!!

15 mistakes and how to fix them tells us that virtually every time our brush hits the paper, we’re making a mistake! We start looking at everything as if it were wrong, it sets us up to feel anxious and fearful. Imagine feeling frightened at every step? Every brush stroke?

Lets remember there are no mistakes in watercolour – just a few surprises along the way!

I say “Bring back the happy accident!”

What is missing for many of you is the fun and discovery of NO CONTROL!

Learn to watch the pigments and water react with each other, set aside time, your warm-up maybe, to play with the paint and discover the amazing effects you can get!

I’m going to repeat myself: BRING BACK THE HAPPY ACCIDENT!!

​Lets not focus on fixing what’s not broken. Start looking for the beautifulness in your paintings. Let the water carry the paint where it wants to go – use lots of water and when it’s summer, use more!

You all know this – stop touching and overworking – the fewer brushmarks the better. If you can’t stop fiddling – ask yourself “what does my painting need?” Put your brush down, hands behind your back – get some thinking time.

The best next skill to develop is to learn how to use or ignore “wrong marks” as the creative foundation of your paintings.
​
All members welcome to the Happy Accident Club!!

There’s nothing easy about painting watercolour en plein air but, for me, it is an exhilarating and fun experience.    
 
My early attempts, however, were difficult and my paintings absolutely atrocious! It seemed to take me forever to get to grips with this new style of painting in the great outdoors.
 
Without realising, I was faithfully following the 80/20 rule, 80% observation 20% drawing /painting. Later it dawned on me: this rule does not apply to painting watercolour en plein air - I was trying to follow a guideline for the constant situation of studio/observational drawing.
 
When painting in the field, from the time you select your subject to your end-game, you have about 1-1.5 hours, 2 hours at most, to capture the subject before light and atmospheric conditions change too much. No mean feat but, if you practice, you will improve every time.
 
Another element to consider is the subject. My first attempts at painting en plein air were with groups of artists who love painting landscapes. For me, it was a big problem. Although I love good quality landscape paintings, I’m not interested in painting them myself. I’m a city girl afterall, I’m attuned to light and shadows bouncing around architecture and the people who inhabit amazing spaces. Just think of Lisa Douglas (Eva Gabor) and you'll have hit your nail on the head!
 
I often tell my students to slow their painting process down but in the case of painting watercolour en plein air, I’m going to contradict myself and tell you to speed up! Speed up so you catch the light and changing conditions, Remember, watercolour is a fast medium. Give yourself 5 minutes, and only 5 minutes, to take photos and sketch 1 or 2 value thumbnails and most importantly, take a mental snapshot. Make your memory work for you and, even if you think your result is "wrong", your work will be formed of the essence of your subject. Perfetto!! What a great excuse to go out and paint it again!! Your next work at the same scene will include different features and details and the next different again. 

My personal strategy is to map the subject onto my watercolour paper with a 5 minute sketch and then not refer to the actual scene again, even if I have to turn away from it. I am painting my interpretation of the scene not a photograph. Changing light and shadows become mighty confusing and create confusing paintings.
 
Learn the tools you need to assist you:

• Perspective drawing using a pencil to measure angles.
• create 5 minute value thumbnail sketches.
• Develop your composition skills.
• Learn to understand the relationships within your painting.
• Most importantly have fun and remind yourself that painting en plein air is a great sketching tool for studio work.

 
 x

edited from my original post 070115

It’s really hard to create a painting about a subject I have no interest in, having said that, I can make myself want to paint a particular subject simply by working through a research process and getting to know and appreciate the subject.

Imagine what it would be like for me to be told Country & Western theme ... ?**$#@!!**^??

Guess what? You can get fired up about any subject too!!

While I was still working in the corporate world but dabbling in watercolour painting, I was thrilled that my tutor would supply the subject matter. It meant one less thing for me to worry about, all I had to do was turn up every week and she'd have an amazing array of cool stuff she had pulled together for us. Barbara was a tremendous creative facilitator.

Another upside to this was that I learned to accept what was in front me, whether I liked it or not, this was no time to be fussing and complaining, I had 3 hours of painting time in front me, better get to it quick!

In writing this post I realise too, part of my inspiration for a subject came from our group discussion about the subject and everyone's ideas. Some of my best painting experiences have been painting in a group.

The more research I do about a particular subject the more passionate and determined I become to paint it. I fall in love with the subject ... it could be something as simple (?) as a brick wall or the way the light falls on a glass and the shapes and colours it creates. The intricacies of a subject become fascinating, although I don’t paint a lot of detail (this must have been written a while back!), I go through a process of studying the detail and deciding what I will leave out, what to include and which details describe my message best for that piece of art.

Typically my research might include a small sketch or two on site as well as a bigger more formed sketch I call a plein air painting. When I’m in my studio, if I’m painting from my imagination, I create lots of doodles and lots of composition thumbnails. I’m  reluctant to paint  scenes from a photo preferring to paint en plein air, not always possible and although I’m wary, I’m very happy with a lot of them.

For me, there is a driving force to create and always has been. Among other creative endeavours, I’ve always drawn and painted. It seems stronger now than ever and I think this may be, in part, because I work as a professional artist creating and painting most days - total immersion is good!

My brain is more switched on to looking for subject matter and planning my next work – everywhere I see a painting waiting to be painted. The more I look for subjects the sooner they appear - the more I paint the more ideas I get.

Happy painting!!
ciao amici!!