Experimenting with colour

I thought I should put something on this blog as it's been such a long time since the last post! This is the colour version of a sketch I did a while ago. I felt at the time both the drawings lacked colour but now I've added it, it's not as I imagined - in time I'm hoping to make my watercolours look fresher, less controlled than this. I coloured it partly from memory (those leaves had long since died) and partly from a cutting so the result is not too good - I realised too late I had painted light coming from different directions!














Some Sunday sketches. This Honeysuckle is done in watercolour pencils on cartridge paper. I was going to spritz it with water to see what happened but changed my mind, thought it best to leave well enough alone!

















I'd never tried this before, adding watercolour to a pencil sketch on light cartridge paper, but it was interesting. The colours look quite dull, almost like an old Victorian illustration, and I was surprised that the paper didn't buckle. I'm in two minds about how it turned out but it was enjoyable to do.





















All were drawn outdoors apart from the top drawing and as it was a hot day I found it quite difficult with the heat and the glare on the paper, even though I was sitting in the shade. Although I take lots of photos of plants, there is no substitute for painting from life. That too can be challenging when the petals are either opening or closing for the day as these Whirligigs were!



















Line drawings of the different Passiflora leaves.


















Finally a doodle in watercolour using the Masquepen. I don't normally post doodles but they seem to be going better than my other efforts at the moment!