Recently I worked on a watercolour, a study that had started as a demo for a portrait class some time ago. I know that it was quite a while back because it’s on a sheet of 90lb watercolour paper…a light-weight paper that I have not bought for some time now. I proceeded to paint, in full knowledge that the paper would not take much abuse from my usual rubbing and pigment lifting.
I almost had it: nice and clean, minimal rubbing. Then I decided, perhaps unadvisedly, to “fix” the ear!
This is where the story, of course, gets interesting – I’m quite handy at erasing, re-defining and integrating. Here’s the “rub”: the area can’t but look a little worked, more so with this light-weight paper. The whole ear area now looked out of place with the rest of the composition.
Exasperation! I covered the ear with hair and put in a background, twice, then scratched it through, whilst the paper was still wet and not having been too gentle. In near desperation…well actually I’d pretty well given up….I doused it in the bath and rubbed it around with my fingers. When dry, I added some paint and “voila”, it was done and I signed it.
I normally advise artists to stop, or at least pause, sooner rather than later. A fresh image… as this story demonstrates…. is irretrievable. But you also have to take chances, experiment, often fail, to develop and evolve. One or two of my favorite watercolours were born this way. I’d rather have a failure on my hands than an image that I cannot at least hang alongside my best work. This latest study, although perhaps not quite my finest hour, is one I now like. I just have to flatten out all the wrinkles. But that’s another story.
