Thursday 2 April 2009

Watercolour failures

I did two more postcard-sized paintings last night. Both were exercises from a Frank Clarke book (in fact I think I've done one of them before, except bigger). I really don't like either of them. The trees look stupid and cartoonish. But all I wasted was two bits of watercolour paper and a bit of paint and a few hours of time, and it's all practice, isn't it?


I'm going to sit down with my Terry Harrison book tonight. He paints nice, more realistic trees. I'm just going to paint lots and lots of trees till they start to actually look like trees and not brown crayons with bits sticking out.

Oh and I'm still having major trouble scanning. The sky of the poppies picture is actually a weak ultramarine, but it looks almost white here. Hmmmm. I need to figure this out.

10 comments:

Alex said...

^^ I still think they look awesome!
I don't know which failures you're talking about because I can't see any.

Pea said...

They look so pretty! and the colours are so fresh and lively.Doesnot look like a failure to me .. Its lovely work!

Sarah M said...

I think both pictures are charming, and I love the colours.

Stacey-Ann said...

they look pretty good to me!

Anonymous said...

You may not like the trees but these paintings have some really good painting, especially the first one. The misty background and the grass in the forground are really super.

Bonny said...

I agree with what everyone has said so far: these are really quite good, especially as you did them so quickly.
Just one tiny point: in the top painting, the way you framed the composition with the trees on either side, leads the eye to look in the centre of the composition and we expect to see something that is the focal point. The line of the horizon might have been all that was visible in reality, but a subtle spot of colour for the eye to rest on would make a big difference. Please don't be offended by this observation, as it was meant in a nice way. Besides, I think both of these little paintings are very good! :)

christine said...

I LOVE the poppies in the second painting!

Please don't be so hard on yourself — I think both paintings have their charm!

joanieART said...

I think your trees are lovely. I would say it's your inner critic that needs to pipe down!

Back To Basics said...

I think they're beautiful, I like the second one especially. Wish I could paint even half as well as you!

We Are What We Eat said...

Great reading your bllog post

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