Painting In The Wild
Whether you are “in the closet” or out “loud and proud” with regards to sketching and painting in public, I encourage you to keep doing it – the benefits to your soul are worth it!
One of the things I love about painting “in the wild” is the limited time and the constant distractions. They may not sound like good things, but it definitely makes you paint more quickly, be less particular, looser, and you learn to need less concentration – these are all good things when developing your skills and filling your book.
I paint a lot in coffee shops, but I can tell you, painting in wineries has its own set of benefits, I absolutely recommend mixing wine with your watercolour – I speak from experience when I tell you, you become much more relaxed with your painting as the day goes on!
But what do you paint?
Paint small – cups, plates, vases
Paint medium – table settings, counters, inside scenes
Paint big – buildings, landscapes, streetscapes
It all depends how much time you have and what you want to practice today.
Notice the little things. See the reflections on silverware and on glass and think “what is it from?” Is it the light from outside the window? Is it the light reflecting off a serviette? A person’s shirt?
Don’t forget to include shadows – shadows make such a different anchoring the object on the page of the sketchbook, so it doesn’t appear to be floating in space. I prefer to use blues and purples in my shadows, but it doesn’t need to be one single colour – mix it up!
And another thing … know when to stop. How do you know? You will only know when you go too far, too many times and you start to learn from your experience – it’s the only way. Practice, practice, practice.
Take a photo of your painting so you can look at it differently – this is the modern-day equivalent of the masters stepping back and looking at their painting from a distance.
It’s also a great way of recording the day you visited a place.
And as you sketch more, you’ll be continually surprised by the good things that happen.
Have a go and let me know ;)
