The story has a familiar start: “Once upon a time there was a blank sheet of watercolour paper and a stretch of rocky seashore.”
All the potential in that pristine page waiting for the first mark. What would I choose?
Not worrying, really, because I have additional sheets.
Out with Payne’s grey acrylic ink, using the ink dropper itself to draw plus a rigger brush and a flat brush. It got me to a “don’t mess it up now” stage.
Not worrying, really, because I could always try again.
Watercolour added to the sea, using the flat brush. It got me past the previous “don’t mess it up” stage, to a new “don’t mess it up” stage.
Not worrying, really, because I could always start again and aim for this point again.
Two colours of acrylic ink added to the shore, to represent the seaweed. A little water sprayed to disperse the colour.
Not worrying, because I got there, I felt.
There being understated and minimal. The equivalent of a short poem about staring at a rocky shore rather than a field-guide to shorelines.
Related: The ‘Secret’ was the Previous Painting
The 5 Stages of Making a Painting
As is so often the case, this article is so timely. I am painting a group of Scots Pines that I have allowed to take over the lead. I am now trying to take back control in order to put the foliage on the trees. I can’t leave it as it is, yet fear messing it up. Time to get outside and do a bit of clearing up in the field perhaps.