Quick Watercolour Studies - Review Notes

• I think with my first attempts I was focussing more on trying to create a "good" painting. I think I was trying to focus on all aspects at once. I think once I had worked on Christmas Cactus 3, the blurred wash of shapes wet on wet I was able to compose my paintings more carefully. That said I definitely think my focus was on line and accuracy over tone and colour.
• I think I was drawing more than painting on the first two attempts, then as I got warmed up I think I was working more with the qualities of the watercolours rather than just trying to create an accurate copy of my still life objects.
• I struggled with wanting the paint to dry quickly as I wanted to complete each individual object then move onto the next, I then graudually moved to working on the composition as a whole, so working on one part then moving to another part of the painting to allow it to dry before returning to complete that particular object. I also think it allowed me to really accurately record the colours - in particular I discovered an amazing green through mixing orange with a base green shade.
• I think the paintings which worked best are 4 and 5. I like the simplicity of singling out the teacup, however I can also see the progress I have made in developing my technique for the overall composition in 5. This painting looks so different to 1, I think specifically as it looks complete.
• Sketches or drawings in one colour would have probably helped me more in composing these paintings, I think that I was trying to work with too many techniques at once! I also think if I was to try this exercise again i would paint a couple one dany then return to it the next day to look at the composition again with fresh eyes.