The artist, the inner critic and the kid with the watercolors

Where do you start?

This is a really deep question, particularly for artists. Sometimes, there is too much. Sometimes, too little. We are all spoilt for choice with all the mediums, tools, distractions that we are exposed to today. At times, we are not sure what we are supposed to do. We look at others, see how good their work is, see how far they have come, look at our own work and think, why is mine so poor? But really, is it? Truly? More often than not, it is all just a terrible lie.

You think not? just take out your sketchbooks from a few months or years ago and just look at your work now. Even your strokes would have improved as long as you have attempted to stick with whatever art form your heart had chosen to be paired with.

I have a lot of learning to do, yes. I’m trying everyday to walk towards that goal of learning more about this capability that allows me to express the world I see the way I see it. Photography lets me do it in one form, but art allows a creative freedom that even photography does not.

So, in a sense I have decided to chronicle my experiences with watercolor, acrylics, sketching and painting in general through notes and images in this blog. I hope to present myself more often and record more of my learnings, both as a reminder to me and also perhaps to a fellow artist who might find themselves in a similar mind space like I’m right now. We all need each other to remind ourselves at times that while we all strive to be artists and there is an inner critic who keeps saying not so nice things, end of day, we are all just kids with our color pencils, crayons and watercolors. We forget how uninhibited we were as children. Our art is so confined today because, we are confined. I sometimes need to remind myself that I’m a kid who likes to play with colors and to go do with it what I want to do with it, rather than what the artist or the inner critic wants me to do with it. I will always choose the kid. Always.

So, to start with my first project, I’m going to take inspiration from my garden. I’m fortunate to have a lot of flowers blooming around me seasonally, particularly a variety of roses. So, where else to start with other than a rose?

My reference image is shared. You are welcome to use it for your practice if it interests you.

Materials & Colors used:

Since this was a practice sketch, I used Fabriano Watercolor pad (140lb, 300gsm). Colors used were from Winsor and Newton. Below were the colors used and these are part of my permanent color palette.

Cadmium free yellow, Permanent Rose, Permanent Magenta, Payne’s Grey and Burnt Sienna. The green was achieved mixing the yellow and Payne’s grey.

What I mean by permanent is that after many color swatches and experiments with colors, these are part of a permanent selection of primaries and mixers I gravitate towards the most. Unless there is a specific hue or value or tone I cannot achieve from a mix of these, I try not to complicate things.

I used to, but I don’t now. Keeping your color palette simple is perhaps the biggest help you can do to yourself when working with art. Alteast in the beginning.

Started with a rough pencil sketch - you can trace if you like also. I like to sketch, so I always try to get some practice in sketching.

Once I have a rough sketch, and I do not fiddle with the details. I wet the whole paper. Drop bits of the yellow and then Payne’s grey in first. Very very very diluted. In the first steps of any watercolor painting, I try my hardest to get the most watered down pigments on paper. I have found this to help tremendously in the subsequent glazing steps, without having the painting go too dark too fast.

After that I work in steps, letting the first layer dry before going in to glaze with the next. Again, throughout the process I do not fiddle with details. I focus on the edges, as they help the viewer comprehend the image better, but that is all the detail I work on, other than things that to me personally, matter. Which would be very different to you. But that is ok. This is my version of it and it’s totally fine!

It is my hope that I continue to add more of such content to my blog and based on any requests that come in I can add that much more details or steps to this. But for now, this is a start and I will go with it!

Stay wonderstruck! ^_^