Direct Watercolour challenge, Week 1

The first week of the challenge is over, and so far, I've been keeping up. Well, I still have to do today's sketch, but on work days, I'm doing them in the evening. And keeping them quick and simple. My fridge happened to be full of all kinds of juicy fruits at the beginning of the week, so I decided to start with sketching them.

With some, I made more than one sketch. With these apricots, I tried a more realistic version, using layers. I wasn't quite happy with how they turned out, they seemed to become more and more dull in the process. So I made another sketch, very quick and loose. They turned out much fresher and brighter. I'd like to combine the two and achieve more realistic paintings, that are still bright and fresh. Lots to practising to do....

I really enjoyed painting these strawberries. I wanted them to be quick and loose, but with the texture they get from those little seed thingies. So I decided to use salt. The first one I did in the Hahnemühle Watercolour Book that I'm mainly using for this challenge, the second one in my normal sketchbook, that doesn't have watercolour paper, but takes a bit of watercolour quite well. I played with the different formats of the two sketchbooks (landscape and portrait), and lined the berries up. They were also delicious to eat afterwards.

Blueberries are a big favourite of mine, and the perfect subject for a quick sketch. The hot, humid and thunderstormy weather we're having at the moment leaves me feeling so tired, I just didn't have the energy for something bigger.

Eventually, all the yummy fruits were sketched and eaten. These bright red radishes were perfect to sketch next.

On Wednesday evening, I needed something very quick to sketch. This ice lolly was a very suitable subject, for obvious reasons...

I'm glad this challenge makes me take time to sketch in the evening. It's so easy to find excuses, when you're tired, and just spend the evening on the sofa, staring into the tv before you fall into bed. It's so much more rewarding to take the paints out, switch off and play with your paint. But sometimes, the result just isn't quite as you'd have wanted to, and maybe what you could have achieved on a Sunday morning, with more energy. The greens on these tomatoes turned out quite heavy. But that's okay too. Some days are just better than other. And you can always paint it again, and learn from your mistakes. And my scanner messes up all my sketches too...