So, it’s been quite a long while since I picked up my watercolour gear and painted something—over a year to be honest. I guess with life and work and everything else going on in the world I kind of lost interest in this medium in my art journey. But it’s nice to know that I can always come back whenever I want and be able to find joy in it, even if what I come up with isn’t always great.
In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I actually had a little difficulty with this painting. At one point, halfway through painting, I accidentally somehow smeared blue paint just behind the rear of the bear and for a moment thought the whole thing was ruined. I actually threw my brush on the table in utter disgust and resignation and sat there looking at what felt like a total waste.
I don’t really know why… maybe I was having a bad day, or maybe after such a long time away from the medium I had forgotten that not all was lost. For a brief moment it just felt like I had completely destroyed something I was until that point happy with and wasted a good clean canvas.
It wasn’t too long before I came to my wits and decided to try to fix the problem. I just mopped up the still-wet excess of the stain with clean tissue paper and lightly dabbed and rubbed at the spot with a little extra water. In less than a minute of effort it was pretty much gone. Yeah, if you look close enough you can see where I’ve perhaps rubbed some of the paper fibres off, and there’s still some blue residue left. You can still the aftermath but I was happy enough to let it lie… if only as testament to that one moment of utter defeat before realising all was not lost.
In the grand scope of things it wasn’t really anything to get worked up over, but in the moment it was disappointing to say the least. Still, while I did enjoy the process and the emotional rollercoaster and am happy enough to let it be, :laugh: I’m still not entirely pleased with the end result. As an artists critiquing his own work, it’s easy for me to see areas where I need to improve. I guess it comes with the job.
I’m still discovering the dynamics of the medium, how the pigment flows when wet and how it looks when it dries, how it interacts with the paper in different circumstances. Maybe I was too heavy handed with the paint in some spots and maybe the paper has too much texture and rubs off or runs too easily.
But I guess it’s ok. It’s good enough for now after a year of inactivity with this medium. I do know when it’s time to leave well enough alone.
The next one might be better.
If you’ve read this far, I’d actually love to know what you think. Have you had a similar creative adventure? I’d love to know.
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