exactly! :)

Well here’s to our new, confident and unflappable approach – after all, it’s only a bit of paint’n’paper so we really shouldn’t get too het up about it! Good luck Margaret

Yes I agree! We’ll see on that one because I think that this will be a life long struggle and I am thinking that I’ll use it as a catalyst to push myself to become better. I think that I am trying to re-frame my often poor (and insecure) attitude. I like that Zbukvic quote and he is one of my favorites. :)

Hi Keith and many thanks for this. I must confess that I’m really pleased with how well the ‘set up’ worked and especially the board come paper carrier – maybe I should commercialise it!
I think you’re right about the over working. It took me too many washes of varying degrees of opacity before I hit the right tonal values – rather than cutting straight to the chase with a single wash. It was great to be painting outdoors though and I was also able to get quite a few good reference photos so I think I’ll be trying another ‘studio’ based version of a similar view/composition.

Thanks so much Margaret. Your comments called to mind something I’ve heard Joseph Zbukvic say in one of his DVDs. It’s along the lines of:
what lets most painters down (at my level at least) is not necessarily a lack of ability but a lack of belief. You have to believe that it’s all going to work out fine, otherwise you’ve already lost the battle.
I think your work is tremendous so there’s no reason for either of us not to believe that it’s going to work out okay. I think we should both try to carry and apply this belief with us in our next efforts!

The fact that the watercolour looks OK, when viewed from a distance, shows that the colours and tonal values are right. So the only problem is with the over-working, which is not surprising on a first outing. Painting outdoors is so different that it takes a bit of time to get used to it. Given that the result was not bad, and the equipment all worked well, I think you should feel very encouraged.

Thanks so much for this – hopefully I’ll be able to do more in location paintings like this and get better at both painting them and documenting them! It’s such different set of challenges painting outdoors but it’s also completely thrilling and engrossing!

Thanks Carmel – I know what mean about the hand sometimes going in a different direction! I’m sure I’ve seen a viewfinder with perspective lines running into a vanishing point that’s specifically designed to help with street scenes etc.

You are very welcome John that’s why it is so great to be able to interact with other artists and share experiences!