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I love watercolor.  The luminosity of the pigments and the unpredictability of the medium really thrills me.   Over the years I have dabbled in watercolor but never committed to learning it.  Working full time in pastel and oil has made it easy to avoid tackling watercolor, yet I kept thinking, “Someday.”  Well, someday is here.   With a break in my work schedule I have decided to paint a watercolor a day during the month of January.

Learning another medium can move your art forward. When I began working in pastel, I would draw the subject, and then color it in using the end of the pastel like a pencil.  That changed when my children were in elementary school and I volunteered to paint murals on the walls.  I still remember the excitement of holding the brush and making strokes with my entire arm.   I wanted to translate that feeling into my work so I began to paint in oils.  After working in oils for a couple of years I found my pastel application changed, instead of using the end I held them along the side and used the entire length of the stick twisting it and using different pressure to create distinct strokes.  Brushwork from oils influenced my pastels to become more painterly. 

So what do I hope to learn from watercolor?  Changes are easy to make in both pastel and oil.  With watercolor you have to plan and be certain of your design ahead of time.  Decision making seems more concise and application less haphazard.  I hope to learn to focus my process so that I am more aware of what I want from the painting before I begin.  I hope I can make fewer brushstrokes that say more, and create clean, luminous passages of color. 

I have signed up for the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge posted by Leslie Seta.  I plan on doing one watercolor a day in the month of January and posting it on my blog.  I will paint different subject matter and explore different materials and palettes and write each day about what lesson I learned.   I know that I am going to have to create A LOT of bad paintings and that I will be far from my comfort zone, but I will know more at the end of the month than I do now.   I could do this quietly in my studio but the act of publicly announcing and sharing the process will keep me focused on seeing this through and not giving up on a medium I have always wanted to master.  Please follow along on this challenge.  I welcome any comments or tips you wish to share.  What a fun way to kick off 2015 - let the adventure begin!