So initially I thought I'd just swatch out my brushes (what and excellent idea) and maybe have a go at one or two of the simpler exercises just to get me doing something. As you can probably tell that's not what has happened, before I knew it I was halfway through the 14 days and showing no signs of stopping. Sadly it means I didn't do an initial door, but I still think I'll do one at the end.

BRUSH TESTING

This was so useful as I'm definitely guilty of always picking up my favourite brush and never giving any of the others a chance. Exploring each in turn gave me a good understanding of when a brush might be a better choice for me and also gave me a bit of confidence to try the brushes that I find harder to work with.

Watercolour Workout - image 1 - student project

BASIC PRESSURE AND CONSISTENCY

So I started out easy using a filbert which I absolutely loved. This brick pattern was so meditative and yet at the same time you can see every spot where my concentration slipped! I found working out where the stroke would end quite tricky and have ended up with some bricks rather longer than others. I then switched to a couple of mid sized rounds, but I definitely prefer the thicker effect of a bigger brush. I need to come back and try this with a good sized flat, then I could really go for precision.

Watercolour Workout - image 2 - student project Watercolour Workout - image 3 - student project

EVEN STRIPES

I am not a fan of stripes, for whatever reason I find them really hard so I really had to concentrate for this one. I found it much easier to achieve a consistent line with the bigger brushes and keeping straight became harder and harder as I progressed to the smaller sizes. So I did extra! I discovered that I much prefer using my rigger than the equivalent size round brush; I manage to achieve much better control with it.

Watercolour Workout - image 4 - student project

Watercolour Workout - image 5 - student project

FLAT BRUSHES AND VARIATION

The only flat brushes I have are some very cheap, generic ones and they're all quite small, but they did the job. (New, bigger flat brushes are now very much on my art supplies wanted list). Once I had worked out the correct length for each stroke I was away! I really enjoyed this one. My attention wandered in sections of the short-long and you can see the wobbles in the marks.

Watercolour Workout - image 6 - student project

ANGLED AND COMPOUND STITCHES

Today I was in my happy place. Looking back maybe I should have used some guidelines for the first row or two as getting all of the marks a consistent length was a struggle at first. I liked the mid-sized rounds best for this one. I found going upwards from right to left the most challenging by far.

Watercolour Workout - image 7 - student project

COMPOUND CURVES

Today I have confirmed that curves are definitely more my style than straight lines. This exercise was super tricky, but I loved it soooooo much! I could sit and paint these all day. Trying to keep each curve the same size was really hard, the second one always seems to want to get bigger. I found the reverse 'S' came much more naturally for my hand (though I had also had more practice by that point).

Watercolour Workout - image 8 - student project

EXTREME CHANGES IN DIRECTION

Oh, today was fun! The 'U's were my favourite, though I did find that when you start combining them they tend to try and run away with you! I have to be so disciplined because making a good shape is not too difficult, but making a really crisp, clean, even shape requires me to concentrate for every second. I did all of these hovering, I couldn't move enough with my hand resting on the page.

The 'N's I found a bit trickier as my flat brush doesn't hold a huge amount of water. Keeping the edges neat was a challenge. I switched to a filbert for the big 'N's, as I don't have any bigger flat brushes, which is why they have ended up a bit more rounded. I actually quite like that.

The 'V's. I am not a fan of the 'V's. They were a lot harder for me and will need much more practice. I did feel slightly better about them after I left for a cup of tea and came back to reconsider...

Watercolour Workout - image 9 - student project

Watercolour Workout - image 10 - student project

PRESSURE CHANGES

So I was looking at these little commas thinking 'this looks much easier than yesterday's exercise'. Spoiler alert: it's not. I found them quite difficult, especially the ones curving from right to left. Going thin to thick I had real problems lifting up without leaving a ragged edge behind and even paint distribution went completely out of the window. I did them all with a hovering hand or occasionally just my elbow resting to give me a bit of stability. Usually I find a bigger brush a bit easier, but in this case the more extreme change from thick to thin made it harder to keep a smooth line. Still, after two pages I did end up with marks that I like the look of.

Watercolour Workout - image 11 - student project

Watercolour Workout - image 12 - student project

I've tried these well fed snakes before so I knew I would struggle with them. I tried a bit of everything; more paint on the brush, less paint on the brush, bigger brush, smaller brush, moving faster, moving slower and I have concluded that the only thing that will really help me here is lots more practice! I think I had started to get the hang of of it by about halfway down the second page. The movement is just so foreign to my hand!

Watercolour Workout - image 13 - student project Watercolour Workout - image 14 - student project

COMBINING PRESSURE AND COMPOUND MARKS

So, I definitely benefited from yesterday's practice today. I really enjoyed doing these and they would have been much harder if I hadn't had the warm up yesterday. I found that twisting the brush slightly as I went around the curves helped keep the bristles together for a clean line. Speed was important too. Too slow and the brush sticks, too fast and the tip flicks out as you go around the curve.

Watercolour Workout - image 15 - student project

NESTED CIRCLES

The last few days of practice really helped me here. I was anticipating these turning out awfully, but they were actually not too bad. I much prefer going anticlockwise, the movement is more smooth for me. The smaller circles were more difficult as I had to slow the speed of my brush and had to be much more intentional about the space I had to use. I did rest my hand and use half circles to form the very smallest. I think that I need to try again with a smaller brush; it would be very challenging.

Watercolour Workout - image 16 - student project

ADVANCED PRACTICE

These wiggly lines were so much fun. I felt really good to have a go at something a bit more fluid and allow the brush to dictate a little about where it wanted to go. All I had to focus on was consistency of line. The more traditional calligraphy exercise was a bit harder, especially after having had no rules previously. I think I probably lost a bit of focus at times and could have tried harder to get the space between each hump more even.

I really enjoyed the leafy doodles. It was great to do something a little less abstract and start thinking about how I might put all the marks I've learned into use. I was able to focus more on shape and composition than the marks themselves. I particularly like the more organic leaves; my favourite is in the top right corner. It makes me think of seaweed or willow.

Watercolour Workout - image 17 - student project

Watercolour Workout - image 18 - student project

THE DOOR

So, even without having done a first door I could tell the difference when I was painting. I was willing to give it a go, without getting in a flap about a subject that I would have previously found quite daunting. I didn't worry about the mistakes I made or trying to get everything just so. Knowing which brush would make the mark I wanted was so helpful! I didn't waste time questioning choices. I like how the brickwork turned out, thought other parts of the painting could use some further work. It was good just to prove to myself that I can do it.

Watercolour Workout - image 19 - student project

SKILLS SAMPLER

This was loads of fun. It's so nice to see a little bit of everything all in one place; a really good summary of the last couple of weeks work.

Watercolour Workout - image 20 - student project

Thanks Jen for such a fab class! I have had so much fun and it has been really beneficial for my brush control and stress levels. It also has started me thinking about maybe having a go at a bit of brush lettering or calligraphy as it seems a natural extension of this work. There is no way I would have had the confidence to give it a go without these skills. I will definitely be keeping up my practice! (Especially the ones I don't like doing).

Jessica Buchanan

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