Day 1:
Working with transparent layers, mixing colors and using gravity

The Secrets of Watercolor - image 1 - student project I was surprised by myself to get these even planes. To know the right amount of water is still a challenge.

I tried in various (old) sketchbooks and papers.

Day 2:
This lesson helped me a lot getting away from my beloved painting by numbers mode.
Use thin and thick paint, slow and fast strokes, let the color play.

This is the road I want to travel on further:

The Secrets of Watercolor - image 7 - student project

Tried with another subject this morning, will try more to get a rusty texture

Some playing with lots of water and pigment on various papers:

not so suitable for watercolor, too thin and smooth, the water didn't soak in, but funny results.
this is a Canson sketchbook, I used a little bit less water

The Secrets of Watercolor - image 12 - student project sometimes with cauliflowers, sometimes without.

Day 4:
Painting a shere on a cube, watching light and shadows.

The Secrets of Watercolor - image 13 - student project
the most fun I had with the shadow under the sphere thing.

Day 5:
I like the craftsy aspect in this lesson. Lots of work to do on this:

I wasn't really surprised about my result... :)
(space for the experiment exercise...)

Day 6:
Landscapes. I like the skys, never used gravity for purpose before. But not happy with the mountains, still doing too much.
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 16 - student project
the hills are too dark, aren't they? I have troubles to make a difference between foreground, middleground and background.

Some more sunday mountain scenes:
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 19 - student project
discovered that it is possible to add more layers when starting very soft. I used these as my playground and lost any fear of maybe ruin something.

Day 7:
space for the trees

Day 8-10:
Chairs #1

The Secrets of Watercolor - image 20 - student project

Chairs #2
I wanted chairs more in a style like the silverware:
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 21 - student project

chair #3:

after one week with this wonderful class I do understand the relations between water, pigment, paper and brush much better. After appr. 30 years of trying too hard with every thing.

Day 11 + 12
Barns
Some studies in sketchbooks -- the first ones... oh je...
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 23 - student project
then another on thicker watercolor paper:
what did I discover today? It isn't necessary to paint every single brick and leaf and what not. Oh, the barn turns out a bit short. Sorry barn :)

Barn in the sun
I watched this lesson again and again. Yesterday with plenty of time nothing worked. The paper was too soaky, I started too dark, was too spare with pigment and water...
Today, in the morning, this is the result (I begin to appreciate good quality paper):
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 25 - student project

space for the barn with the dark roof in evening sun.

Day 13
Drawing with the brush
This feels like in my element:
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 26 - student project

Day 14
what fun I had with the following ones:
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 27 - student project with Google Street View in Sheffield

The Toll House in Scarborough

Reference photo from John Johnston (https://pmp-art.com/john-johnston/gallery/313356/toll-house-scarborough) On this site the photographers allow to paint from their photos.

Day 15
Overripe Bananas and a peperoni
tricky objects, those. Will try again to make them look fresher. Tomorrow is just another day :)
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 29 - student project

tutti frutti:
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 30 - student project

Day 16
Some buildings, not too successfull. Perspective, light and shadow, so much to deal with...
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 31 - student project

I will draw this for several times to get familiar with the subject:
I like some of the bleedings here though.

The Secrets of Watercolor - image 33 - student project

Day 17
working with the paper white and some variegated washes

The Secrets of Watercolor - image 34 - student project

Day 18
working again with the paper white but with a finer brush
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 35 - student project some metallic rusty objects:

The Secrets of Watercolor - image 36 - student project

and some of steel:

Day 19
Was unsure about adding a background and not happy with the result on the left (next time I try to get it darker):
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 40 - student project

Last day:
cups and mugs
The Secrets of Watercolor - image 41 - student project

Ira Prussat

watching

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