My Re-commitment to watercolor

Painting in watercolor has always been my first love.  I started with watercolor and after a dalliance with oil and acrylic, I’ve re-committed myself to the watery, transparent medium; there’s nothing quite like the jewel-like quality of watercolor.  I enrolled in an advanced watercolor course led by Braldt Bralds, a professional illustrator and notable fine artist.  The 16-week course, which is ending this month, has helped me to refocus on process not product.  It’s not about the end-product, it’s about the learning that takes place along the way. Whereas I usually work from my imagination, this course emphasized working from photographs and from life.  The process involved transferring photographic images onto watercolor paper and preparing detailed pencil sketches with a focus on creating light, dark and middle tones.  Each of the five assignments presented a different challenge; each wil be reviewed here as a series of five blog posts with a description of the assignment, the techniques used, and a summary of what worked and didn’t work.  By reviewing each assignment, I hope to reinforce the learning process for myself and offer the opportunity for others to learn from my successes and failures.  I welcome comments on each post.