I had been looking at art supplies to put on my Christmas wishlist, in particular so-called granulating watercolours. I first heard of those probably a few years ago already, I think from artist Iraville; and my usual art supplies store, Gerstaecker, have been regurlarly promoting the “supergranulating” collection by my usual watercolour brand, Schmincke.
But this Monday I had to run an errand not far from the Gerstaecker store, and could not resist paying the store a visit… and there buying some watercolours, including 3 of the supergranulating ones :) And so this Art Practice Day was dedicated to trying them out!
Initially I just wanted to do kind of swatches, like the ones above, only on larger areas, to be able to experiment with water/pigment proportion, and brush strokes.
But I did not know quite where to start, or/and maybe it felt too boring. So, maybe inspired by an interview of artist Teagan White on the Art Affairs podcast I happened to be listening to, I selected one of the many photos I take all the time of things that I may draw or paint “some day”. Untypically, I managed to pick one quickly on my phone’s camera roll :) (taken end of August in Bremen, not far from my place).
For the background I used this beautiful, red-haired Chinese paintbrush that I had bought on my last trip to Gerstaecker (last April or May I think), and not gotten to use since :)
In fact I guess I could have used it for the whole painting – the beauty of this type of brush is that they can make fine lines as well as broad washes. I must try that next time!
I’m so happy with the result of this impromptu study that I’m thinking of offering the original for sale, as well as (digital) prints ✨️ :) Stay tuned, or/and contact me if you’d be interested!