Turk's Turban

A strange name and a strange looking object. This is actually an edible squash - although I seriously doubt this one is now, given how long I took over it! I started it a few weeks ago but I've been in the grip of a quilting bug so I put it to one side while I was sewing. I had a plan to move my watercolours into Paul's room while he was at university and keep the quilting and painting separate, but that didn't work out. Paul's room is very cold this time of year so eventually, after putting one of my quilts together, I brought the paints back into my messy room. It may be a little too bright, being south facing, but at least it's warm during the day, and bearable!

This was painted on Saunders Waterford paper, which is my favourite, but not the Fat Pad this time but a block. I don't know if it's just me being very picky, but the two papers seem quite different. The paper in the Fat Pad seems smoother and this has just a touch more grain. I didn't mind this except for the shadow which I wanted to have a smoother look.

I mostly used only four colours here - Schmincke's Translucent Yellow and Translucent Orange, and Sennelier's Cadmium Red Light and Sap Green. I used Sennelier's Manganese Violet mixed with a little French Ultramarine for the shadow and then I added some touches with Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils just to enhance the top and the bumpy surface and smooth the shadow.