Back in July I spent four splendid days at the beautiful
West Dean College attending a botanical watercolour painting course.
Our delightful tutor,
Sandrine Maugy, showed us many techniques including her harmonic shadows underpainting.
We were based in the Orangery that had lovely light but was also very hot during the day. Many flowers, fruits and vegetables freshly picked from the gardens were available to choose from as our subjects. I decided to keep it simple and chose to paint a pink rose bud.
I was working wet-in-wet for the first time and was amazed at how I could move the paint around and achieve smooth graded washes and I was rather pleased with my finished painting.
I also painted a small chili pepper but I'm yet to finish it as I made a bit of a splodge in the wrong place which I need to try to remove before carrying on. One for when I'm feeling more confident and brave I think!
The whole West Dean experience was amazing and it's certainly the first of many visits to come!
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| West Dean House |
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| The Orangery |
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| My pink rose painting |
