Sketching Disasters

Wiser artists than myself always say it’s OK to fail, when you fail you learn. It is indeed true that we best learn & improve through our mistakes, just so long as we really analyse what went wrong. When those disasters occur, however, my instinct is to rip, shred, burn and forget!

The thing is, I really do want to improve my painting skills, so rather than using my failures as the shame stick with which to beat myself, I am trying to see them as a learning opportunity.

This painting of Rose-ringed Parakeets is a case in point. I was trying out a handmade paper, which was new to me and decided I would use it without applying a clear gesso primer; I didn’t want to wait the many hours it would take to dry. I should have just experimented with a few washes, to see how it performed, but instead went headlong into a multi-sketch piece. I get rather excited when I receive new art materials; well that’s my excuse.

At any rate, it didn’t suit the way I work and try as I might, I couldn’t get the watercolours to do what I wanted…my mixing was also a bit off that day.

I put the offending item away and decided to test out the paper properly. I discovered that if I primed it first, it behaved very differently and was therefore a lot more manageable for me. I also decided that it wouldn’t be a bad idea for me to do some colour mixing experiments. I haven’t used watercolours seriously for years and it didn’t hurt to re-acquaint myself with my available palette. I also realised that I was missing some essential pigments, so it was a perfect excuse to purchase more paint.

So, was this disaster profitable? I think it was.