I have had a life-long fear of using the water-color medium, no thanks to my art teacher in my final year of secondary school, when I was preparing to take art at the GCE O Level examination.
We were doing all our painting (still lifes or portraiture or posters) in poster color paints then, and she used to say don't try water color unless you are a confident painter, because water color is really unforgiving, and that you'd sooner sop up and tear your paper trying to cover your mistakes... because you can't.
So poster color paints it was for the last two years in school. After that, no art, nothing. Then I picked up color pencils for fun. Along the way, the husband gifted me a set of Derwent Academy water color pencils.
A Google search later, I found that you either color your picture using the pencils the regular way, then go over with a wet brush to turn it into a water color picture, OR you use a wet brush to lift the pigment off the pencil tips and paint your picture.
I signed up for online artist Susan Chiang's "Paint With Me" Challenge, under which you get an email from her every month, including a reference photo. Produce that in water color and tag her on Instagram. (@susanchiang_)
The picture you see here, a snowy scene in a pine forest, is about as far as I got. I used those Derwent pencils on Canson "Mixed Media" paper, and used a wet brush to lift pigments off my pencils. Maybe it's not gotten beyond what Susan calls "the ugly phase", but I was so discouraged that I stopped. (An aunt and cousin who saw it thinks it is promising and that I should go ahead and finish it.)
I need to have more free time to practise water color painting or just to finish this one up. I never sent it to Instagram.
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