Wednesday 18th March

Well, It was a thoroughly enjoyable day today.

We are onto day 4 in isolation. Lockdown to protect us from Corona virus.

I seldom go out as I have plenty to keep me occupied here. Suddenly when faced with 15 days confined to the house and the rain pouring down outside, there seemed a distinct lack of anything purposeful to do.

My friend Eric, a brilliant watercolour artist with his own gallery in Northern England usually holds art classes there. Now faced with isolation due to lockdown, Eric decided to change to online classes to keep them going and started them by continuing with a painting his class had  working on for some time. I was allowed to join in.

The class went online at 11.30 am here being an hour ahead of the UK. I realised what time it was half an hour before he started and raced around finding materials. Due to the weather being inclement it was really chilly so I first located a radiator for the art room. The rain continued to bucket down but the cold gradually lifted as the room was small. I quickly fixed a leak in the roof, with part of a plastic box and sticky back plastic, I didn’t think the constant drip drip into a bucket would do anything for my concentration. 

The painting was to be a landscape with snowy fields and sheep, a church in the background and a stone arch and trees.

The class began and I felt sure all the students were armed with their paintings with watercolour wash backgrounds already dry from a previous class. I would be playing catch-up......

I had a pad of paper and my paints already in a sealed palette as I had been using them recently. I also had brushes.

Eric came online and I made a start.

It suddenly dawned on me my paints were not water colour but acrylic, a big mistake as once they dry they cannot be re wetted. I clearly wasn’t thinking straight.......A watercolour workshop with Acrylic paint......oh dear, get a grip.

In the absence of the right paint in any of the right colours suggested, I rushed into the studio and scurried around rummaging through drawers for seldom used ancient tubes of watercolour. I quickly found that hot summers here take their toll and dry up the paints even though they are sealed in their tubes. Luckily along the way I had acquired some tubes of watercolour and also a pan with blocks of watercolour paint. Alas not all the colours I needed but I would have to improvise.15 minutes had passed before I was ready to start.

Not to worry, I was ready to begin now and made an effort to catch up using the colours I had. I sloshed the paint on with a large brush, except, I do not normally slosh paint, till this morning.

A  hour later when I had sloshed every colour ( as instructed ) on the 140lb 'smooth' watercolour paper, (should have been rough), a touch of yellow ochre, a little blue, a smidgeon of purple, if only the purple hadn't dried up.... I frantically mixed red and blue already in my palette. Whatever the science says..... It makes brown. Not good.

Eric in a few deft brush strokes made it look easy and his snow scene appeared in front of my eyes. 

My snow resembled la la land and all I needed was a unicorn and a rainbow. No matter, I added a wonky church and an even more wonky arch. One of my eyeballs was fixed on the instruction of how to paint a sheep and the other trying to deal with the grey stripe across the sky as my paintbrush assumed a life of it's own and the now drying paper curled to meet it. Note to self.... find masking tape. Stick the paper down, wet it , put the wash on, let it dry and I would have caught up. Yes, right. 

I added trees with a flourish and then went into default mode and started adding detail. 

It's now 9.30pm, some 10 hours later and I am still wrestling the curled up piece of paper now several inches thick with remedial paint. In my defence I have cooked tea and eaten it and fed the birds and cats so I have  not really been working that long.

I have had an absolute ball joining in and focusing on a project. Eric is an awesome teacher and I didn't stop laughing all morning. I will complete this, if I can only find the third sheep which is now camouflaged in with the colourful snow. 

Next time I will be better prepared.......

Oh, and I couldn’t resist adding the robin. Luckily I stopped short on adding a mouse and a ladybird, my usual trademarks.

Day 5. Thursday 19th

I was a little better prepared today having located a set of watercolour paints and a palette as per Eric’s instructions. Also a roll of masking take to prevent the paper curling up when wet and swallowing my paintbrush.

The video link had already started and I discovered today’s project was to be sea and sky with castle and a bit of foreshore, seemed okay.... Eric had already done a pencil sketch by this time. I was playing catch-up again.... I drew in the horizon and the castle outline just as he was beginning to tell us to put masking fluid on the highlighted bit of the castle. I rushed to find some masking fluid. It’s one of those things I have periodically bought, just in case but never used successfully. Eric seems to have no problem with it. I found it lurking at the back of a cupboard in an unopened glass jar which looked a very strange colour at the bottom, I didn’t hold out much hope that it would be any good. I knew I needed a brush but was reluctant to waste one once used it’s generally a bin job as the fluid is rubbery. I found a brush looking suitably sorry for itself and rushed back to the video. I fired off a quick question to Eric to find out if the brush was indeed the best thing to put it on with. I then opened the top of the jar, surprisingly, it was still liquid at the top. I did my best to apply it but didn’t hold out much hope it would be any good. By this time Eric had moved on telling us what colours to put out.

I quickly put the lid on the masking fluid before it had a chance to escape and got the paints out.

I tried to open the blue paint. The whole set was new so each colour required the seal to be pierced. The blue seemed to resist my attempts and appeared somewhat solid at the top.... Curses. I located a sharp instrument and removed the blockage, meanwhile Eric was showing us what colours to mix for the sky. He had got through half of the mixing before I managed to squeeze a blob onto my palette and knock over a half full glass of dirty water onto the table sending brushes swimming in all directions. I rushed to get a new kitchen roll and mop up.

Eric was by this time starting the wash on the sky. Now I was back to one eyeball on the video and one on getting paint out of tubes. I raced to fetch a flatter container for my water and dry off the brushes I needed. I seemed even less prepared than yesterday. This would have to change.

I started the sky wash just as Eric was back to putting masking fluid on the waves, once again requiring me to watch what he was doing whilst I was doing something else.

Needless to say the lesson was over before I had anywhere near finished but the pressure was off now. It was also clear I didn’t like the paper I was using, the texture once the sky had dried was strange and I wondered if I had painted on the back side of the paper.

Another problem to be overcome was that despite being told the paint would look darker when applied than when it dried I was surprised how pale it was. I guess this was a common problem as Eric kept repeating it and I kept my look of wonderment once bits had dried ten times paler than expected. 

The masking fluid was a complete disaster and vowed to practise with it as I once again ended up in default mode  using acrylic paint for highlights.

I finished the painting and learnt a lot.

I asked for a picture of the next project and will have it sketched out and the colours assembled ready in advance of the next class. It’s a learning curve as over all these years I have painted in a completely different way. I expect I will learn lots new techniques and probably eventually need to adapt them to my own style. For now I am completely absorbed in what I am doing.

Day 6. Friday 20th

Next project, a 2 day workshop, a seaside scene, I study the photograph. Looks complex. I start to sketch it out. River mouth, buildings, sunrise. I add all the detail in pencil and several happy hours later send the sketch over to Eric feeling very pleased with myself. Wrist slapped, too much detail. I tell him I will start again, not being in possession of enough rubber to erase it all. Leave it he says but I will have to wait while he and the class catch up.

The next lesson starts, I am ready, palette, paints assembled, clean water.......

The initial sky wash goes on no problem except the paint is not drying as quickly as Eric is working, I rush to keep up. Problems start as he puts in a second wash to create clouds, my initial wash is not dry and the second wash creates lines where the colours join. I leave it to dry and start painting in the buildings. I can only imagine everyone else is getting on better than I am. 

Day 7. Saturday 21st

I finish the painting, disguising the errors, it has taken 2 days and there is as much detail in the finished artwork as was in the drawing. I think it looks okay. I send a photo to Eric. 

Reply.......Good painting but didn’t fit the brief, too much detail, looks more like a photograph......he’s right of course, I’m not learning to paint loosely in watercolour, I start with the best of intentions and then reach for my small brush and paint how I always paint.....I am resigned to the distinct possibility that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

On the good side I’ve spent many happy hours on three paintings which in the lockdown has kept me totally absorbed. I am learning to handle watercolour but will have to buy some better quality paints when things get back to normal, I am missing several vital colours.

Sunday is a rest day and I downloaded the picture ready for the Monday morning class.

Zebras, what could possibly go wrong........