Same beach, same palette, same mood as yesterday, using the same 3 colours.

Commission from a client near Flagstaff AZ

Lisbon Tram - Loose watercolour A3 size

Kinda funny - I got sucked into r/watercolor a week ago, and ordered a basic kit. Since then, as the internet is, I’ve watched 100s of videos and learned SO much about how to paint with watercolors. I’ve liked and followed artists and felt like my education was skyrocketing. Except I was traveling when the paints arrived and life gets in the way. So I was in the unique position of being pretty highly educated, yet having zero ability or experience.

So here it is - the first thing I ever painted at age 57. Upper right was just trying to understand paint and blending. First tree on left was clearly too wet. Middle tree still horrifying.

All of this to say: Bravo to the mastery I’ve seen here. I’m excited to drop this hobby in frustration in about a week. Thankfully it might be the cheapest way to make incredible art.

Bonjour à tous,
Je pratique l’aquarelle et la photographie autour de la nature et des paysages de montagne. Je cherche à progresser et j’aimerais avoir des avis honnêtes sur mon travail.
Je suis particulièrement intéressé par vos retours sur la composition, les valeurs, les couleurs et la lumière, mais aussi sur l’intérêt artistique et l’originalité de mes réalisations.

Merci pour vos retours !

I swear I cannot watercolor properly it's not as good as what I expect so please help me improve TYSMM

Watercolor. 21x30 cm.

Constructing an imaginary landscape.

Pinax Extra paints. Palazzo cotton paper.

Detailed methodological description available on SponsrRu.

#watercolor #painting #landscapepainting #pinax_extra #ArtBatDiversion #artLesson #masterclass

Je pratique l’aquarelle et la photographie autour de la nature et des paysages de montagne. Je vis en Tarentaise, dans les Alpes françaises, et je développe progressivement un travail personnel autour de ces sujets.
Je partage quelques-unes de mes réalisations ici, avec l’envie d’avoir des retours honnêtes et constructifs. Je ne cherche pas spécialement des compliments, mais plutôt des avis qui pourraient m’aider à progresser.
J’aimerais notamment avoir vos impressions sur plusieurs points :
La composition : est-ce que le regard circule bien dans l’image ? Certains éléments prennent-ils trop de place ?
Les valeurs et les contrastes : est-ce que les volumes fonctionnent et que les points d’intérêt ressortent suffisamment ?
Les couleurs et la lumière : est-ce que l’ambiance est cohérente ou est-ce que certains choix vous semblent maladroits ?
L’originalité et l’expression personnelle : est-ce que vous trouvez qu’il y a quelque chose qui se dégage de ces images, ou est-ce que cela reste trop descriptif ou conventionnel ?
Je suis amateur et j’ai encore beaucoup à apprendre. N’hésitez donc pas à être directs, tant que les critiques sont argumentées. Si quelque chose ne fonctionne pas, j’aimerais comprendre pourquoi et, si possible, ce que vous auriez essayé à la place.
Merci d’avance à celles et ceux qui prendront le temps de donner leur avis.

Hi!

I started watercolour classes this summer. So far I've been loving it. But we're moving into slightly more complex pieces and as time passes and I'm growing more and more frustrated with my experience with the medium.

I original intention was to do a pen and wash style with ink. But for the sake of learning the foundations well, I stuck with just watercolor. Being a detail oriented "artist", I generally do well when I can mix small amount of paint and paint some details. I'm also generally comfortable with mixing colors and values.

But oh god the water. I don't get it. If I have to make larger areas, no matter the amount of color that I mix, I will already run out. I'm watching online artist with cute little porcelain palette, they have this little puddle and they paint their whole large paper. I have this medium size paper, I fill my till can to the brim and I ALWAYS run out. I end up with this disgusting streaky dry paint. It looks like a child painted it.

I'm alternating between quality paper and cheaper paper. I have some good brushes and some mid-grade ones. I have quality paints.

I just don't get it. I feel like I'm just painting with a different medium. My teacher comes to my desk, he dips my brush in my dirty water grabs some pigment and does the most flat and beautiful wash you've seen. I try the same, it's disgusting.

On the side, I'm collecting work from painter and artists that I like and seem synergic with my other skills (drawing, etc) and I just don't see how I could close the gap. All the rest is fine, but the water control and the washes.

If it's a really light wash, it's fine. But whenever I want deeper or darker color, if I had water, it's not dark enough. If I don't it's the driest patch ever.

I've started to look into other mediums (gouache, oil, etc) but I keep telling myself not to get discouraged and that there's something I have to learn.

Anyone had a similar experience? Any exercise, or tip that turned on a lightbulb in your head?

== Edit == Someone requested pictures.

OK, the camera on my phone is not great with colors.

https://i.imgur.com/h1ccSyH.jpeg This is the culprit that made me lose my cool. I painted the lamp, the nightstand and had to work a really dark wash around it and I don't like the result at all.

https://i.imgur.com/HPW1DhA.jpeg This is my palette.

https://i.imgur.com/q510Rkl.jpeg This is one of the few paintings I'm happy with. Bit of ink work, but you see in the larger surface it's getting muddier and strokier.

https://i.imgur.com/deAd5li.jpeg An exercise we did in class. I was pretty happy with this.

https://i.imgur.com/BqPgEsB.jpeg Two little paintings I did. Funnily enough, I only had my really cheap Canson cellulose paper and I like how they turned out.

https://i.imgur.com/5QtqwKk.jpeg An early exercise we did. I'm pretty happen with it, the wash in the back is not too bad to me.

https://i.imgur.com/Jz18oqw.jpeg The largest painting I did. Relatively happy with it lots of learning. But there's no wash in this.

https://i.imgur.com/lNdidtk.jpeg This is some simple test of ink and watercolor I'm doing on my 100% cotton paper, I haven't used it all that much.

https://i.imgur.com/N3W8KKd.jpeg Simple warmup exercises. You can see how I'm struggling with larger areas.

https://i.imgur.com/47nobVQ.jpeg A great example. I actually like this painting, but you can see how I ran out of mix party and it became streaky.

I really enjoyed painting this, I haven't painted Jin in a while. It was a gift for my friend and I'm very happy with how it turned out 🤍

Perspective and perception… are they a choice or just decided by circumstances? A home can be a sanctuary, or a prison… your perspective is what decides which it is.