The Start to my Watercolour Journey
The Start to My Watercolour Journey
My start to watercolour was later in life. I have not been a lifelong artist. Although I did like some drawing and colouring as a child, it was never a passion of mine. I never thought I was very good at it. I was always creative though. I tried several hobbies and crafts and in my teens came to love sewing, and especially quilting. I made hundreds of quilts over the years, baby quilts, wall hangings, table runners, lap quilts and full size bed quilts. Most were gifts to family and friends but I did make many baby quilts that our guild gave to the local hospital and late I made lap quilts for the local hospice. Unfortunately the costs of quilting just became too prohibitive.
I used up my small stash of fabric during Covid and then sadly gave up quilting. I needed to do something however and when I gave it some thought I realized that I have always loved the look of watercolour.
Michael Stores were one of the few that stayed open during the lockdown. I had no idea what to look for but went ahead and bought a palette of paints, a couple of brushed and some paper. I got home, looked at it all and thought “Oh my goodness, now what do I do?”
YouTube
Thank heavens for YouTube. It truly was the start to my watercolour journey. It was an amazing resource. There was so much! So many teachers. So many styles. Every instructor taught something a little different. It was overwhelming.
I decided that for me, the best way to learn would be to follow one instructor for awhile, to learn the basics and become somewhat comfortable with the medium.
Angela Fehr
I chose to follow Angela Fehr for a year. I chose her for a number of reasons. Mostly I loved her style of painting. She was so enthusiastic and taught me to enjoy the process and not just paint for the end result. She would get excited about a single brushstroke and say something like “Oh look at that. I love it. It makes me so happy.” She liked to “play” with her paints and that somehow gave me permission to just try different things and not feel was wasting my time or supplies. She lives in northern BC and the landscapes around her, that she often painted were very similar to what is around me. I found out very early that I find it so much easier to paint something if I have some sort of connection to it. When Angela chose a scene to paint, I very often had a similar scene that I could relate to.
I learned so much from her. Not only basic watercolour painting skills, but to enjoy the process of painting. She spoke often that there was no such thing as a failed painting, that even if it was maybe not worthy of hanging up or showing. you learned something from it. That was good.
Continuing On
My watercolour journey continued as I moved on. Angela has progressed in her painting and still does beautiful work [check out her website] but she does much more abstract work now which I am not particularly interested in at this time.
I have done online courses and workshops with several artists. I find now that I am comfortable enough with what I am doing that I can pick and choose techniques, hints and styles from other instructors without getting overwhelmed, confused or losing my own style.
Most recently I have been following Andy Evanson and Matthew White, who both have a very similar style that I like to follow. They take the time to plan out their paintings. They greatly simplify the shapes. Both encourage doing a value study and then they paint in generally 3 layers – first they cover the whole paper with the lights, then they do the middle value, which is the majority of the painting, connecting shapes. The last layer is the darks and final details. They both like to show the beauty in the everyday and their style always leaves a beautiful and fresh result. I’m finding this usually works well for me as well, in almost everything I paint.
Showing and Selling
My watercolour journey continued as I branched out even more. In 2022 I joined the Ashcroft Art Club. They met once a month, had monthly challenges, show and tell, opportunities to ask for help or suggestions if you were stuck on a painting and it was just inspiring and encouraging to meet with other artists.
They put on a large Art Show and Sale every spring. This year, 2024, was their 56th annual! Although it was intimidating for sure – there were real professional artists in the group -I was encouraged to enter some pieces. I received so much positive feedback and was more than thrilled when I actually sold a piece! How encouraging. That sale gave me the courage to book a table at our local outdoor weekly market. I had my paintings, some framed and some in a portfolio as well as original greeting cards. This was so outside my comfort zone but I came to love it. I loved interacting with the people, the other vendors, the customers and just the people walking by. It was fun. I sold several pieces.
This past year I started writing my books and have them for sale as well. I will never make a living at this, but it pays for more supplies, frees up some wall space in the house and I love that my works can give others some joy. It really is wonderful.
Final Words
My artistic journey is definitely a continuing work in progress. I love that I can see myself improving. My confidence is increasing as I put myself out there. Painting and writing has been therapeutic and healing for me as I try to deal with the pain and trauma of the past several years. I am excited to see where my journey will lead me next and in the meantime I just love to have fun while I paint and write. A true bonus is that others seem to enjoy my work as well.