Protea and Autumn Leaf

Watercolour

It has been refreshing returning to the traditional application of watercolours. Traditional certainly does not been easy, and that is why it is very important to focus on watercolour washes and brushstrokes. Artists love to push the boundaries and experiment, but the danger is that we can start to lose sight of good painting techniques and clean, clear colour mixing, and so on. The sketches above were part of a class exercise where we focused on background washes and shapes, simplification of the form, tonal values and combining variegated washes in one object ... very useful and enjoyable.