When Watercolours Go Wrong...

Sometimes, the watercolour gods are just not with me… Other times I’m just clumsy and make my own mess.

That’s what happened with this month’s first Patreon tutorial. I was at least half way through painting when two things happened: my memory card was full and when I went to upload the files to my computer, I spilled a full glass of wine all over my desk!

In a moment of annoyance (and of artist’s dramatics) I impulsively ripped the paper up! Like I said, it was mostly done for dramatic effect when my husband came running in with paper towels after I cried out for help.

Yes, my friends, what you see are the remains of a goldfish illustration for the tutorial I am making for my patrons this month. That little goldfish drank my whole glass of wine before I could have a single sip! Actually, this painting has been a bit of a comedy of errors from my camera battery dying and wine spilling, to patchy, bubbly backgrounds of acrylic ink because I, of course, had chosen this moment to experiment!

I’m sharing this little studio story to reveal that behind the more curated images of Instagram and the social media world, painting accidents happen. Even after painting for many many years, sometimes, the paintings just don’t go the way you plan them.

The real trick is to push forward through the struggles. In every painting I create, there is a stage of “ugly.” However, push a little further, paint a little more, and you will suddenly find your entire painting coming together. Each painting is like a miniature ugly duckling story unfolding on the paper. The early stages are not so pretty, a little awkward and you wonder what it will become. Then suddenly it transforms into a glorious swan!

In this case, it meant starting over. Sometimes the struggle includes a second draft! It was worth the effort…