Watercolors: Sheet #1

After putting paint into my palette, I picked up a book I had bought and tried a few of the techniques they mentioned. Then I became insanely impatient and decided to start just throwing paint on paper to see what happened.


Please click image if you wish to embiggen

In the upper left, that was supposed to be a nice solid block of color. The orange (actually, vermilion, which is my new BFF) square to the right, that's a fading wash, getting lighter as it moves down the paper. Across the bottom, that's supposed to fade gently from one color to another. And then various other stuff playing with brush strokes and mixing paints (some kind of feather/flower/blob and a headless person walking off the side of the photo).

Here's what I learned:

1. I did "stretch" the paper, aka wetting it down so it can soak in lots of water and not get all crinkly gross. However, I then kinda forgot to rewet the paper before I started working so it was really dry. More water on paper equals more flowy paint.
2. The colors are much more bold than I intended. I needed to mix in more water (plus the water on the paper)
3. The fluffy brush that came in my set is for cold weather painting - it's shedding its coat here in this heat, leaving fur everywhere like Tonya. Replace that brush!
4. Vermilion is awesome.

It was just kinda awesome to put paint on paper to see how it behaved a little bit. I expect to do a lot of learning through mistakes. Seriously, wait until you see Sheet #2. The best part of watercolors is that they're not that expensive and clean-up isn't too bad. And I had fun doing it. I may never be great, but I found it to be relaxing so I plan to keep playing.

BTW - since I clearly have no idea what I'm doing, I'd love to hear any advice or suggestions you have for me.