what to bring

Your usual painting materials and any project you are working on.

Autumn Leaves

Watercolour by Siân Dudley

I have always loved the way the last few leaves seem to cling on to the tops of our Devon hedges. Using a well considered photograph I draw up the image more or less as the photograph had captured it, only to find that about a third of the way through painting it I realised it was finished. The leaves were blowing away, giving me a far more satisfying sense of autumn than the photo. I stopped painting and rubbed out the rest of the drawing.

book of the week

The book I have chosen to share with you this week is probably one of, if not the first, books on watercolour painting that I bought. Its ‘Starting with Watercolour’ by Rowland Wilder. First published in 1966 by the publishers Studio Vista at 10/6! Full of black and white images and, as it was in the day just a few coloured ‘plates’. Packed full of helpful hints from the President of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, as Rowland Holder was at publication.