ADVENTUROUS WATER COLOURS

I have been trying to emphasise some aspects of water colour. Just the fact that is doesn't have to be faded and so subtle as to be barely visible! I know that I overstate the case, but I just believe that if you can control the materials enough to produce vibrant colour when you choose, and strong and dense colour and elegant marks when you choose, then the versatility of the medium means that every aspect will enhance each other, so that delicacy and strength, and every level in between will make your work more expressive and delightful.
I have also been promoting the idea that every inch of a painting counts. Spaces can be powerful, but one of the unusual delights of the professional water colours we have been looking at this term, Shirley Trevena's in particular, is that the 'backgrounds', subtle as they are, fill the entire page. So that ghost shapes and sheets of light and colour, and implied volume and distance, or perhaps just gorgeous colour fill every single inch of the painting.

These are by Audrey B, Kathleen S and Sarah W I think, (I can't always read the signatures) from the Cawston group, and there have been many paintings that work really well, but I haven't managed to get good photos of yet.
Keep practising, and enjoy the vibrance of the paint!
And don't forget homework for next week, our last week, theme Festive Season, the challenge here being to use the idea in a non obvious way, trying to avoid cliches!

Homework

 My idea about homework is that if you have time to work on your own but don't quite know where to start then here is a focus to get you going. Of course this is absolutely your choice to do or not to do.  The next title is ' Festive Season', for the week at the end of term. Don't think you have to take an obvious route with this idea, in fact one of the challenges with this sort of title is to see how you can interpret it!  so what could you do with 'Festive Season'?

NEXT TERM

Just to let you know that next term will start on Monday 6th January, then six weeks till half term which is the same as the schools, starting on Monday17th February. So then four more weeks till the last week starting Monday17th March.

My holidays

Just to show you a few photos from my holiday in Gran Canaria

the top one is a close up of a palm tree bark, and what a fascinating pattern it makes, the second one is a view across the harbour at Porto Megan, just look at the reflections, and the bottom one just a lovely view of pretty white holiday bungalows, with that elegant palm tree providing a focus to the view.