Moon tutorial results

I followed a moon tutorial by Whitehouse Art today. This was fun to do and I think it came out quite well for a first try with this looser style. Things that were new or mostly new to me:

Using Prussian Blue
Splattering paint drips: I had tried very timidly before
Using white Gouache to cover up a mistake (only worked a bit)

Materials used

Fluid watercolor block 8x8 sheet
Staedtler watercolors + Winsor and Newton Cotman Turquoise mixed to make the teal.

Lessons learned

I worked hard to get the shape of the moon nice and clean since I have taken to heart the lesson that good lines are the start of a good piece of art.
I am not happy with the coverage of the Pebeo Studio Gouache white. This is one budget purchase I regret so there's an order on the way with a Winsor and Newton Permanent White as a replacement. At least the Pebeo Goauche seems to splatter ok.

Here's the result

Comments

Work from "101 Watercolor techniques" - Exercise 005

This exercise was a bit of a struggle for a beginner. Believe it or not the result below is the third attempt. The point of the exercise was to get a result of depth on the paper using only analogous colours and without using color gradation. I am sure I learned something from it. What I think I struggled with among other things was "water control" - keeping the water within the small leaf areas from running. Learning: As I went along I had a little bit more freedom with the strokes. I started to notice how the exercise author was using negative space and tried to replicate it. \

Work from Everyday Watercolor - Day 4 - Abstract composition

Another challenging exercise. This time working on day 4 of the popular book Everyday Watercolor . This seemed to take way longer than expected by the author. It took time to pick out the 6 colours. I like the set I picked well enough but don't love them. The exercise challenge is to balance warm and cool colors, stay within lines and practice painting right next to previous washes of paint. This seems to work on water control and gauging drying time. I also got a bit of practice fixing mistakes. I had a couple of large blooms I wanted to fix and one or two drops that got outside of lines. I was very happy with the Winsor and Newton Cotman #6 brush this time. The springy tip did a great job cleaning up tiny edges. Previously I had issues with this brush dumping little bits of water and the tip "squaring off" sort of but not this time. Maybe it was the amount of paint I was using? Learning: Choosing and using a larger palette (6+ colors) Water control Fixing mistakes b...

Learning resources: Books I am using, February 2021

Videos are the best but I still like learning from books. I purchased a few. I get some in physical form from the library and I get a lot of books in e-book form from the library. I am currently working though the following books of tutorials to improve my technique. Everyday Watercolor, Jenna Rainey I am just starting this one now. It starts out simple but looks like it builds to a good level of challenge. I have been struggling a bit lately so I am looking forward to working through some simple exercises to build confidence. Watercolor Basics: Let's get started, Jack Reid This book has a lot of tutorials. It starts by drilling 4 methods: Flat wash Graduated wash Wet-in-wet Drybrush I like this book a lot and should write a full review. It just went back to the library so it will be a few weeks until I have it back. 101 Watercolor Techniques, Parramón Editorial Team I got this in my order of bargain books. It's actually pretty good. The exercises are basica...

Crashing water

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