You never know....

I am becoming more and more obsessed with unpredictability of watercolour. the more I use it the more I find out about what it can do, I love to experiment, and there is so many things to experiment with. I think the more paintings I do the less I worry about the outcome.

So a painting begins, I use a lot of water.....people  have remarked when they watch me about how much I use. I love to watch the paint move around in the water . Sometimes wish I could freeze a moment on the paper as some effects are so fleeting they disappear and never become a reality.

As the painting moves onward I need to plan in my mind what parts if any need to be left dry, which parts I want to be lighter. I may want to leave a section to dry and the angle it dries at is important, sometimes they are horizontal as they dry sometimes at an angle and sometimes vertical.These small changes can all alter the finished painting, and taking a break and coming back to a piece allows me to see it afresh.

I like to change the amount of pigment in washes, to darken an area or splatter water into a section. It can all be going well and then I go too far, overwork a part and the whole thing gets lost. On the other hand I can think nothing is right and suddenly some added water or a splatter here and there can add life to the picture and all will be well.

The whole process is  magical , but the magic doesn't always work, and that is another reason I love watercolour. It isn't prohibitively expensive ,if a painting goes wrong I can try again, I can experiment some more and by pushing the boundaries more new effects can become a part of my repertoire . I can use them in the next painting or the one after...who knows what will happen.