Bittersweet affair…
Watercolor is probably one of the cheapest medium, but they say it’s one of the hardest. From my short experience painting with it, I’d agree. It’s like playing chess, “touch-move”. (Somebody told me this.)
I’d start with a perfect how-to-paint-the-subject plan in my head and it would turn out far different from what I expected. Sometimes better, most of the times worse than I planned. It’s very hard to control , because it seems to have a mind of its own. And I have to consider a lot of factors: wetness of the paper, brush techniques, etc.
There’s this term in watercolor painting: “loose”. This is when the finished painting looks spontaneous and fresh. As if the artists painted it for just 10-30 minutes. Letting his brush dance with freedom on the paper.
Yes, it sounds so easy and simple to do and its only that, sounds and look like. But the process is exactly the opposite. It takes a lot of mastery of the basics, and experience, painting and repainting one subject to my satisfaction but at the same time learning when to stop… the thing with watercolor is the more you tweak and change something in the painting, the messier it gets and the more frustrated you become.
One very important lesson I learned from my experience is to never exactly copy what I see on the subject. To never let the realistic photograph or surroundings stop me from expressing myself.
Every painting for me is a learning process towards that goal. Loose, fresh and spontaneous paintings.