Watercolour of water and trees at Temple Newsam

I love this photo that I took while visiting Temple Newsam, West Yorkshire, back in 2014 and decided to have a go at painting it. Didn't do it justice, I know, but this is my first attempt at painting such a scene and I learned a few things. 

Temple Newsam watercolour

What did I learn? 1) Masking tape is a so and so to get off my Strathmore watercolour journal, so best avoid it when possible. 2) A trick which I saw all too late on the YouTube channel 'Watercolor by Shibasaki' for an easy way to paint leaves on a tree in an abstract fashion is by using crumpled up paper pressed onto paint and then dabbing it onto paper; I will definitely remember that. I'll put a link to the video on my External Links page. 3) Remember when paint dries it is lighter. I had painted the whole page in a pale blue so, clearly, it was too pale. 4) I learned that I should learn to walk before I try to run; this photograph was way too challenging for my level of skill. Actually, I learn that lesson with every painting I do and I still go for the challenge. However, if you step back a bit, it does look okay ish.

I couldn't find a dark enough green for the painting and ended up mixing Schmincke Mars Black with Perylene Green and even if then it wasn't dark enough. The rest of the paint used is Sennelier. 

Temple Newsam 2014