Watercolour Challenge 4 (Patreon)

Happy Tuesday everybody and welcome along to our new Patrons. 

Well done on your colour blending work last week, your colour wheel will be a really useful tool for future paintings. If you haven't already checked out the #dwpcchallenge on instagram to see each other's results I highly recommend you do so as it is so helpful to see how others got on with the task. 

Today's task puts the skills you gained last week into practise; first by creating a colour palette that evokes Winter (maybe even Christmas) and then putting it to use in a series of timed paintings that could be your warm up for Christmas card painting if you feel so inclined.

This challenge will test your nerve when it comes to just getting on with a painting (I have a habit of faffing about before I start any painting and this was such a useful exercise for me). We are going to paint a wreath design, inspired by the winter watercolour botanicals sheet I posted a few days ago. 

In the video I paint the same design in 10 minutes, 5 minutes,1 minute and 30 seconds. Doing this painting encourages you to paint with an increasingly free and fluid motion as you begin with a fairly calm and detailed painting for 10 minutes you are getting your eye in as you embark on faster paintings. Reducing the time encourages you to strip away detail and focus on simpler brushstrokes, rewarding unexpected results. 

This is a private youtube link which only you sweet pea patrons have access to.

You will need

A range of brushes

Colours of your choosing

A few sheets of watercolour paper (cold pressed is my go-to)

jar of water

kitchen roll to blot the brush (particularly important in this challenge)

Pencil

Compass or something round to draw round like a side plate.

After watching the video...

1: Create your own colour palette using the skills you learnt last week.

2: If you would like to add a 15 minute painting before the 10 minute one, you can, but please make sure you test yourself with 5 mins, 1 min and 30 seconds as those are the pieces where your paintings will really transform.

I highly recommend doing this exercise more than once as I got to the end of doing it and wondered why I had been so worried to start it. The biggest challenge is getting over your fear of painting something rubbish.

My Findings:

Mix your colours before starting to make sure you don't waste any of the precious seconds.

10 minutes: I used a small brush, I did more than I expected. I panicked at first and then calmed down and enjoyed it.

5 minutes: Amazed at ho much I managed. Enjoyed the colour blends that happened because I had less time to allow things to dry.

1 minute: started with light colour first and a large brush to cover more distance. Embraced the colour blend

30 seconds: a bit of a blur to be honest but I felt able to embrace the abstract speed painting having done the previous ones.

I can't wait to see how you get on. I'm already thinking I'll create a Christmas card design using the 1 minute design with a little bit of detail over the top. I would never have thought of doing that had I not done the exercise. 

Comment below with your findings, and if you are sharing your work on Instagram, use the #dwpcchallenge and tag me @dewintonpaperco.

 I can't wait to see how you all get on! Enjoy the process and have as many goes as you like. 

Have a wonderful week.

Harriet

xxx