Painting a Picture

Hello Friends!

I was recently given this lovely colouring book. What makes it special, and more exciting than my other colouring books is that this one is all printed on quality watercolour stock.  This means I can use my favourite wet mediums without buckling or tearing the paper.

The illustrations are also printed in light grey scale, so unlike most dry medium colouring books, the lines disappear once painted, instead of remaining highly visible on the finished piece.

I found my set of Inktense blocks, which I feel will give me the best selection of colours to do the chosen piece of two gourds.

Of course, this wouldn't be me without a blunder.

I didn't know there was a page of instructions in the book, which had stuck together.

So, by the time I found them, I'd already started and gone about it the wrong way.  I had also picked up the wrong colour and put it down in the wrong section.  C'est la vie!

Onward and upward.

I started using the instructions, back peddling now to try and save the day, laying down the colour where it shoud have been put in the first place.  I have to say, if you didn't know, it isn't too bad.

However, this is what it should be more akin to.  Then again, it is the first layers and will be built up.

I shouldn't say it, but I am mightily chuffed with the stem.  It's turned out well.  I keep on wanting to touch it.

I must contain myself and let well alone, not fiddle with it any more, and hope that I can recover the earlier mistake on the body of the gourd to better match the stem.

It may seem like a lot of photos, but there's method in the madness.  Keeping a good photographic record of each stage helps me learn from my mistakes, a visual step by step of progress.  It becomes an invaluable tool.  I do end up with a lot of similar looking images, but each one is different to the previous set.

Later on, they can be put side by side, as each layer happens, or a colour change is made.

Digital photograpy is a superb tool in this process as it time and date stamps each photo, so if you forget to tag, the process keeps in order.

I won't bore you with all the stages, here's the end result ~ et voilà 

I had to make myself stop.  That's always a problem I have, knowing when it's done.

I also took an online, hour long, paint along tutorial hosted by Matthew Palmer.  I found it very difficult to keep up as I had to keep changing glasses due to near vision issues between screen and workspace.  So, it's a bit of a mess.  Also, because it was simultaneously broadcast in America, it was late in the evening here {almost bedtime} and I found working under artificial light my grey mixed up to more of a purple.  Anyway, for those who haven't seen it, this is what I ended up with.  The waterfall is abysmal indeed.

Then the next day, I did this one trying to remember what to do.  I didn't have masking tape, so used pretty, low tack Washi instead.  I didn't do another waterfall, and used the purple paint to create some misty mountains.

Removing the tape to reveal a border makes a huge difference, even when the painting is awful.

I've been working in the garden, more off than on in the cold, and taking lots of walks, as well as painting,  Gardening and walking when the weather is good, painting for when it is not good.  I'll never be any good at painting, but it makes me very happy to putter for a few hours.

Until next time

Stay Safe, Stay Well