I spent three days this week working with Simon Carter and approximately twenty other artists online exploring and experimenting with using watercolour in a bold and contemporary way.
This fresh approach is what attracted me to the course initially and also the opportunity to work with Simon and learn more about his working practice which is entirely landscape based.
The course was originally designed to be a response to drawings made out in the landscape but due to Lockdown 3 the focus shifted towards being entirely studio based. I have to admit to being disappointed about this however we were assured that the general approach and ethos would remain the same.
Actually it was really interesting and introduced a new dimension which I have to admit might be useful to include in my own teaching some time!
Day 1 - Observation
Following in the footsteps of Thomas Gainsborough we brought elements of landscape into the studio creating a "surrogate" landscape which included broccoli trees! We began by making a dozen quick studies in watercolour of the individual elements in our landscapes. This was all done in a couple of hours and was an excellent exercise in speed painting and observation! Luckily watercolour is a medium which benefits from quick and decisive brush strokes which really helps to keep the pigment fresh and clean.
Day 2 - Composition
I really enjoyed the task of tearing up the individual elements and collaging them into an A2 composition. I'm so pleased that I was able to have encapsulated something of my Cornish hedgerow in there with its gnarled and twisty rooty forms and holes. Once again it was quick work!
Day 3 - Scale
Once again some seriously fast and furious painting as we cut our A2 collage up into four pieces and then scaled up each section to A2 resulting in an A0 outcome. Once again all done in a couple of hours - I was exhausted! This was by far the largest watercolour I'd ever painted in fact I've painted very few so it is almost an entirely new medium to me. I was disappointed with this painting in terms of the stage I managed to get it to within the timescale. It needed more work and the energy and dynamism of the collage had certainly been lost in translation as I endeavoured to take it to a much larger scale. Reflecting on Simon's feedback which arrived a few days later I might well come back and work into it further at some future stage. I think it would be interesting and worthwhile to do so.
Reflection
This course totally took the watercolour experience to a whole new level dispelling the rather old fashioned and genteel image which I hoped it would. It really is an exciting medium to work with, bold, fast paced and fresh. From what I learned there is definitely a place for it in my ongoing practice in addition to the creative processes generously shared by Simon which will feed me for some time to come!