April I & II

April I & II
watercolours by Teresa Newham

Has anyone else noticed the blossom this year?  From my neighbour's flowering cherry, which always heralds the onset of Spring, to the trees we've seen on our daily walks more recently, the display has been spectacular, and prompted me to get out my paints.

establishing the base and the layout
© Teresa Newham

I started with watercolour washes and salt, soaking up excess colour with kitchen roll to ensure the washes were faint and that the salt didn't dissolve, then I sketched the outline of some primroses and the skeleton of the trees.

the two paintings taking shape
© Teresa Newham

I built each painting up with more layers of Transparent Yellow, Permanent Alizarin Crimson and Permanent Sap Green,  allowing some Cobalt Blue sky to show through from the base layer.  I thought I'd finished until I stepped back and took another look.

April I
watercolour by Teresa Newham

I was happy enough with April I, but the tree in April II just looked wrong.  Even a layer of Titanium White didn't cover it, so I dug out some ancient white gouache and coaxed enough from the tube to do the job.  It's definitely an improvement!

April II
watercolour & gouache by Teresa Newham