If you have been waiting earnestly for the first painting in my challenge I am very sorry for the delay. However, the ball has started rolling and here is my first watercolour effort.
The painting is called misty village and puts me in mind of more than one holiday spent in the glorious countryside of Wales. The painting actually came from an exercise in an art magazine and it provide the inspiration to get me on my way.
The paper is cheap 140lb watercolour paper and the paints used were cotman watercolour. I followed the method in the magazine article and started by masking off some of the houses with masking fluid then wetting the paper all over before diving in with the paints.
Here is my review
Bad
1 The sky is a right mess; grey blobs on the right and splodges of mustard on the left.
2 The foreground is empty, surely something should be going on.
3 Some of the houses look as if they could fall over at any minute.
4 I know it is supposed to be a misty scene, but it all looks a bit wishy washy to me even though it is a watercolour painting.
Good
I like the smoke coming out of the chimneys. That was achieved by lifting some paint out with a piece of kitchen towel. The mountains in the background are also easy on the eye so it isn't a complete disaster.
Overall I would give it a score of 10 out of 100 so there is a long way to go yet before I can call myself a painter.
Lessons learned
1 When working wet into wet it is best to plan ahead. Paints need to be ready and mixed before wetting the paper because while I was ferreting about looking for the right colours and mixing them the water I'd put on the paper was starting to dry out.
2 Check out artists' watercolours to see if they are worth paying the extra money for.
Call in again next week for painting number two. I'm hoping it will be better but it could be worse.
Any comments on painting 1 will be welcome even if you thing it is a load of rubbish.
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