Painting class - online

Because of the cold I found it hard to hold a pencil or brush during the past days.

Yesterday there was another painting class and I was absent. This did not spoil the fun, as I decided to participate online, just like a number of others. To outsiders, the painting class may seem like a pathetic group of losers, but there are certainly talented people among them. Occasionally, someone drops out (dies). The youngest participant is 20 and the oldest has just turned 83. You wouldn't think so, but the 83-year-old is a lot younger, fitter and more enthusiastic and, above all, more straightforward than many of the 30 to 40-year-olds I see around me.

A new online group has now been created, but it is still for letting know if you are absent, not for sharing work and exchanging experiences. So I am now doing this privately with two other members. One of them has MS. She mainly paints with oil paints, but is now also working with watercolours. This gives us a lot to talk about and we both use watercolour paper bought at Action. Of course, those who can afford it can splurge, but for the average hobbyist, all the expensive paper (cotton and cold-pressed) are too costly. So we use cheaper ones of all kinds and change our painting technique. This should be possible, of course, as we see in many videos on YouTube. Watercolour is no longer only used and accepted how we used to know it. All kinds of techniques have been developed that I find very similar to acrylic paint. Perhaps the new use of watercolour, whether or not in combination with the old techniques, makes watercolour much more interesting than acrylic and... a cheaper choice.

Because my package had not yet arrived and I had put the fish I had started during the previous lesson in it, I decided to use my new watercolour book. The previous one is full, so it's time for a new ugly sketchbook watercolour book (scrapbook). I repeated two previous exercises and then did something different: a lighthouse. Let's just say it didn't turn out well. Paper that creases on all sides, but despite being wet, the paint doesn't flow. I shortened the time by using a hairdryer, but that didn't make the paper any less creased. I had to use a ruler for the lighthouse because I couldn't stand seeing it crooked, and due to a lack of white, I used acrylic paint. Strangely enough, I couldn't make this paint splasht with the brush I used. Enough messing around. Today I'm going to try it again in a different way.

Image 1
Nano art - watercolour, 8 layers. The tape ruined my paper and the paint just ran underneath it. Look how crumpled and crooked the paper is. Result: the paint always runs in the same direction.
Conclusion: wet on wet doesn't work.

Image 2
Officially nano art, but I used a larger piece of paper and the paint I had left over. This is water with colour added (each layer a bit more paint).
Here I saved myself the tape.

Image 3
Still wet on wet and still using the hairdryer.
Lesson: the fewer colours, the better. 1 to a maximum of 5, I think I like one colour best.
Here too, the paint ran under the tape. So using masking tape is pointless.
Conclusion: it turned out better tha expected after some corrections, although it is not easy to work on paper that has been damaged by water. 300 grams means nothing at all.

Image 4
Sketch (only main lines) with Ikea coloured pencils (should also be suitable for watercolour).
I did only wet the parts of the paper that I was painting immediately.
Method:
1: top,
2: middle,
3: bottom,
4: details,
5: white middle with acrylic paint.
Conclusion: with this paper, it is better to leave the white parts unpainted. Used a ruler.
It seems that I can draw a thinner line with the brushes I received for my birthday.

_{Materials- watercolour - round brushes - watercolour book (Action) - white acrylic paint (Van Beiswijck titanium white), hairdryer, coloured pencils (IKEA)
5-2-2026}