Final Images – Watercolor 21 Day Practice

Today I painted the last of the twenty-one exercises in Kateri Ewing’s book “Watercolor is for Everyone.” The proposition was to paint for at least 15 minutes everyday without a reference photo. The goal was to experience painting as a process and to have no expectations about the final results.

Here are some of my paintings. I worked on 4 x 6 pieces of watercolor paper using a natural fiber Sumi brush, a small round synthetic brush and a pencil. The pigments were an assortment of artist grade water colors and some metallic paints.

What I learned:

• Working on a small piece of paper helped me let go of expectations on my results. I could fill the space with some very basic shapes and colors easily within 15 minutes.
• Allowing the pigments to flow together taught me to be more free in my brush strokes.
• Pausing to watch what happens as the paint settled and dried slowed down my brain and kept my body still. I learned what to expect from the different types of pigments – earthy, staining, and metallic – by watching how they reacted together.
• Simplicity is more satisfying than complexity.

I’m a little bit sad that the lessons are finished. From now on, it will be up to me to think of new daily exercises.

To learn more about this practice, visit Kateri Ewing’s site.

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