Well, I’ve finally got round to trying out my watercolour set. I think I may have shared my previous attempt with my tube based watercolours?
You may be thinking this painting had seen no water, and you’d pretty much be right! I hadn’t realised how concentrated the paints are in tubes, and I’d been used to using acrylics, so I used the watercolours in the same way I’d use acrylics 😳. This was obviously not going to work! But my blogging friend Frances at libertasamericanaart has been encouraging me to give watercolours a go, and yesterday I received a gorgeous parcel from her that included watercolour pencils and a brush, as well as a copy of her amazing bird art notebook… Go check out her blog and if you like her work then get in touch with her as she’s selling copies of her notebook at a very reasonable price!
It inspired me to give it another go. So I watched several you tube videos and read a few pages of advice and here’s my progress throughout this afternoon :
I really enjoyed the process of playing, and I gradually got better at blotting excess water off my brush so I didn’t get huge blobs at the end of my brush strokes.
I’m glad I looked for ideas on the Internet as it helped teach me some techniques, rather than just going at it all blindly.
And, amazingly, I actually really like my final piece. I don’t reckon that’s bad for an afternoon’s work 🤗
But I’d welcome any help with where to go from here… Have you come across any useful tutorials/books? Can you spot any things I can try to improve any rookie mistakes? I’d love to hear your thoughts 😊
Julia's Creative Year 
I love your painting, Julia 😍 I like to work with oils, but this makes me wanna try watercolors 😊💕🌺
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Oh cool! 😊
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It’s beautiful Julia! very nice blending on your colours, it looks great!
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Thank you so much. It was interesting to discover that blending seemed to be easier with a bit less water on the brush
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Plus I’ve been looking at some other people’s watercolours and realising that sometimes the unintentional lines created when blending isn’t totally seamless are what give the watercolour its character
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Julia, thanks so much for the link and kind words about my art. I’m really glad you like my booklet so much.
To be fair, you sent me a very lovely handmade book with beautiful papers I plan to use to make birds. I also love the raven print so much that I am going to frame it to go above my drafting desk.
I think you are making lovely progress with your watercolors. Practice is the best way to improve – just keep at it. I’m not a fan of watercolors in general, but I find I do well with the pencils. It looks like you found some good videos to get you going.
Here’s a lady I really admire as a person, business woman, and emerging artist. I have been following her for years, first with a book, and then on her blog. She recently started painting and has good links as well as advice on not expecting everything you do to be perfect. This is my biggest struggle! https://missmustardseed.com/category/mustard-seed-studio/
Good luck with your paints and please keep sharing!
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Thank you so much… That looks like an interesting blog. Did you get my email that I sent on Sunday? I definitely can identify with the issue of expecting everything you do to be perfect! I enjoyed the process of painting yesterday but I was also really pleased with the final results, even though both sets of bullrushes were quite different. I’m thinking I might try painting some pictures in response to poems I’m reading, and see how they go. I’ll definitely share any paintings I do (even if they’re less than my idea of perfect!)
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We can work on this together Julia! I’m a terrible perfectionist.
I did get your email, thank you. Hopefully I will be back on track with snail mail next month.
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Thank you! It will be fun to work on this! I’m so glad the show is up and running now. Bizarrely a couple of your comments ended up in my spam comments. I’ve moved them back but now I’m not sure where they’ve gone, so if you have any unanswered comments then I’m sorry… I don’t mean to ignore them.
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No problem! I think I responded to your email at least twice.
We have terrible internet in the country and I loose work all the time 😦
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Oh no that’s awful ☹️. That must be so frustrating
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Love your watercolor painting Julia!! So cool. Makes me want to give it a go.
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Oh that’s exciting! I am amazed when what I’ve done sparks an interest in someone else. I really had fun with this, and have now ordered a book to help me learn and experiment a bit more
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Oh my goodness, I have just read all the posts in your blog from the very beginning, and I was gripped all the way through by your journey of discovery! I love the way you try new things; the way you show us your mistakes as you learn, so we see we don’t have to be perfect; the way you delight in the satisfaction that comes with making something; the fun and playfulness you share, which is making me enthusiastic to tap into my own creativity—not necessarily in needlework or sewing crafts, though I have enjoyed those in the past, but in my area of writing—but with a new approach; and I love the way you have a conversation with us, and show how creativity, and sharing our creativity with others, is so enriching and so full of lessons we can use in life. You’re also inspiring me to get back to my own blog and maybe do something new with it….thank you so much for all this!
And I’ve forgotten to say that you have a wonderful eye, and I love your sense of colour.
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Oh thank you so much😊 you’re such a
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Oops… I accidentally hit send when I was trying to press another button!!
You’re such a lovely friend and you always say such perceptive and encouraging things.
I’m so excited that the things I’ve written and done have motivated you… I’d never have thought that would be the case… Given that it’s been your writing that has inspired me to explore, enjoy and even try writing poetry. How lovely it is to have friends that encourage us and help the best of us to emerge.
Plus, I am amazed and feel privileged that you actually read every single one of my posts 🤗 thank you so much.
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That is amazing. You did so well. Great job, I love the painting, specially the dragonflies. 🙂
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Thank you so much 😊. I was super pleased with how the dragonflies turned out… Especially the first one where I got the wings almost translucent… And although his head ended up more blobby than I meant it to be I ended up really liking it
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Perfect, you make it look so very easy. 🙂
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Oh thank you. I did find it very relaxing and easy going
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Nice job! That’s the important part when learning watercolours. How much water to use etc. Good on you though, you’ve done really well so far 🙂
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Thank you so much… I really enjoyed experimenting. I now have 2 books to help me learn more… Just got to dedicate some time to it now!
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I love what you did with your watercolours! I love the look of watercolour, but I have never been able to get the hang of it. I think I give up too easily too, when it doesn’t go the way I want. Keep posting your efforts and maybe it will inspire me. 🙂
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Oh that’d be cool! Thank you for your encouragement
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Painting is one thing I’m not good at, so no advice here – just lots of I LOVE IT!! The dragonflies are amazing 🙂
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Oh thank you so much 😊 I was so pleased with my dragonflies too
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