Picture a perfect summer’s day - patio doors opening onto a lovely lush lawn with fruit-laden apple-tree in Rhiwbina Garden Village and you have the scene set for my friend Helen and I to spend the day watercolouring.
An Impressionist’s dream garden…in Rhiwbina, Cardiff
Helen is a Homeopath and Reflexologist and has longed to try out watercolour.
Helen - getting in amongst it!
Enter me! After finally fixing a window of opportunity (always so difficult with people’s busy lives) we ensured that we would not be interrupted and could focus on a day of watercolour discovery and creativity.
A good basic palette of artist’s quality paints
In Helen’s gorgeously rustic kitchen we laid everything out on the farmhouse table and soon she was discovering the joys of experimenting with watercolour. Handling paint and familiarising herself with the effects on different types and wetnesses of paper then progressed to painting an actual seahorse in poetic washes of green an yellow.
Part of the seahorse step by step handout I had prepared
I was at pains to explain that you only get these lovely effects with Artist’s as opposed to student grade paints and paper and was over the moon with how Hel fell in love with this exuberant medium.
She soon picked up the importance of light and shade to suggest the forms of objects such as a cherry and a teazle and loved the way the paint granulated and settled on different paper types.
What could be better than painting in your cosy kitchen with open patio doors letting summer in!
There are so many ways to use watercolour but I was pleased to at least share the fundamental techniques and my love of painting this way.
We enjoyed a gorgeous lunch too and talked art as we worked.
Thanks for a lovely day Hel - you are on your way now!
