Another watercolor marathon with a Russian artist. This time it was Margarita Astasheva, and her focus was on realistic botany. Such subtle details and clever techniques! I learned the importance of a barely-pigmented, transparent base layer.  Bellflower Iris Violet Dewdrop

  O K, so this project may take the award for the most frustrating artistic endeavor EVER! Though I do understand the importance of a base coat and subsequent layering in creating depth, texture, and visuals interest in a painting, this one was ridiculous!! The instructor had me reaching for paint tubes every second and creating the base coat for HOURS! Literally, hours. I stated on this ridiculous piece right after dinner and was still at it when I finally gave up at midnight. (On the plus side, I did get to see the HUGE, powerful full moon framed in my studio window.) I finally dozed off to sleep, frustrated and resenting the time I spent and the paint I wasted.  The next morning I entered my studio reluctantly because I knew that silly painting would greet me. Yep, there it was . . . staring at me and taunting me. What resulted was an effort to reclaim some sort of control and make the best of it. I brought out an arsenal of mediums to hopefully rescue it . . . paint pens, ...

  As promised, my next project after the nightmare pear was as far from fussin’ as possible. I coated a piece of canvas paper with gesso and then smeared acrylic paint with a palette knife to create this cute little abstract nest, following a tutorial by Amanda Hilburn. This was tons of fun. Nest safely little robin eggs. May your first solo flight be a joyful wonder!

This mini-project, the result of an online class, taught me what I do NOT like about realistic watercolor. Endless layers, tweaking shading/tone, constant color mixing, adjusting, blending, detail. I wanted to yell, “stop already. That’s enough!!” I find it aggravating to be constantly fussing with paint. My next painting session will be an abstract, scraping acrylic paint across the paper willy nilly with no particular outcome expected.