December 05, 2023

Painting over a watercolour disaster with watercolour

A couple of weeks ago I painted a total disaster in my Strathmore watercolour journal and I had a choice of ignoring it, cutting the page out, or trying to fix it. 

I couldn't possibly ignore it, it would have bugged me forever. I didn't want to cut the page out without at least trying to remedy it. The original artwork itself was unfixable but I applied a lot of water and lifted as much paint out of the paper as I could. Bear in mind that this journal is not cotton and it does not play nicely!  I was left with very pale colour, a couple of fine unremovable lines, some stubborn gray sections right at the bottom, and a piece torn out of the paper where the masking tape ripped the top surface off. 

I thought about what was left on the paper and decided it had to be a seascape so I went at it with Holbein watercolours and did the best I could. The palm tree could be better (it hides some horrors!) but there is a point when you just know you have to leave it. It all could be better but at least it doesn't offend my eye like the previous one did. This one can stay put. 😀


Koi Carp and lily pads in a journal

I am trying so hard to get back into painting and instead of just relaxing and splashing about, I keep trying to do something worthy of hang...