My new hobby--watercolor

[catherine]

rosa shared her hobby update, so here's mine...

In my childhood, my mother sent me to art class. I loved to draw portraits and paint still life in oils. I think I also wanted to take after my dad, who was an amateur artist. I abandoned that hobby as a young adult. Haven't done a thing with it since.

A few weeks ago, FB started feeding me posts from a site that posted a lot of Japanese watercolor paintings, and I was mesmerized by them. So I went to Domestika, which is a site that offers really cheap basic online classes, and for $9.99 I found a class in basic techniques in floral watercolor. Even when I was in my painting heyday, I hated watercolor because it's so hard to control, but now I kind of like that aspect of it. It's really a meditative lesson in letting go and literally going with the flow (of the water on the paper).

So I'm setting a challenge for myself to practice watercolor techniques for an hour a day. Here is part my first day's output--experimenting with wet paint on dry paper and drier paint on wet paper and various brush strokes.

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[happystuff]

I can also see from this that you definitely have an eye for color! Some of the brush strokes and that beautiful color made me think of irises. Good luck and have fun!

[JaneV2.0]

Facebook--a muse! Who'd have thought!
I like watercolor, but it can be unforgiving. My aunt was an amateur watercolorist, among other arty pursuits.

From the look of your practice work, you're well on your way.

[iris lilies]

That’s wonderful Catherine ! I hear water color is a difficult medium. I have painted in dibs and dabs but I’ve never been been a serious watercolor artist. I do love watercolor paintings, especially of flowers!

[rosarugosa]

That is so cool, Catherine! It's really fun to try something creative!

[frugal-one]

Heh, the most creative thing I've tried lately is to stencil a pan of brownies. LOL

Catherine, sounds like you found your medium.

[KayLR]

Lovely! I've dabbled in watercolor, and my cousin is wonderfully gifted. But I just never stuck with it. As Jane said, it can be unforgiving, but it is so satisfying at the same time. I love color and watercolor lets you play with it in so many ways! Enjoy! Would love to see more of your work as you go along!

[Simplemind]

Coming from a family of accomplished artists, I've dabbled in different forms of art all my life. I started watercolor a few years back. It was a way to get my mind off all the responsibilities of my parents. I struggle as it is totally opposite of oil or acrylic. My work lacks the looseness that I admire. I still stick with it because I no longer paint for the wall, but paint note cards instead. I guess I would say it is my brain work out like a crossword or a sudoku puzzle

[JaneV2.0]

Lovely! I've dabbled in watercolor, and my cousin is wonderfully gifted. But I just never stuck with it. As Jane said, it can be unforgiving, but it is so satisfying at the same time. I love color and watercolor lets you play with it in so many ways! Enjoy! Would love to see more of your work as you go along!

'
The appeal for me is the lightness, clarity and brightness of color. Oils and acrylic can be muddy or heavy. I've heard you can approximate watercolors with acrylics, but I'm skeptical. Gouache, maybe?

[catherine]

Haha! rosa has inspired me yet again! After seeing her adorable new pottery pumpkins and dragonflies, I thought I'd update y'all on my watercoloring. I continue to do it, and I belong to a great anonymous FB watercolor group that is very supportive and they do weekly challenges with prizes for random winners. Here's what I submitted last night--and if you remember, I shared the photo I used as a reference here a few months ago. I'm attaching both (I used creative license to simplify the background)

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