Watching paint dry . . .

 

 

Spring arrived late in the UK this year; we had snow the week before Easter, and bitter winds.  But finally the sun has come out and we've warmed up a little, just in time for the PBGS Gilbert & Sullivan Triple Bill, which we've been performing in Hitchin for the past few days.  And that's meant time off work for me!

What with one thing and another I haven't managed to do any watercolour painting since last summer;  two stretched pieces of virgin white paper have been sitting on a board in the studio since February, originally intended for a project which I've lost enthusiasm for. So I decided to do some playing.

 I washed plenty of water over each piece of paper, let it start to dry and then added some watercolour washes in my favourite shades, adding drier paint to strengthen the depth of colour as I went.  As the paper began to dry off, I splashed on more water, noticing the interesting textures and reflections which began to appear.  So of course, I got the camera out . . .

The idea was to make a couple of paintings based on what the paint looked like once it had dried -  'cauliflowers' and all - and the outcome was quite surprising.  But that's for another blog post.  In the meantime I have a few ideas for these photos . . . !