OUR CEANOTHUS IN WATERCOLOUR

Our ceanothus bush is in full bloom at the moment, and for several days I wanted to paint it. I took this photo from outside the back door, looking up towards the garage at the top of the garden.

Creating the reference photo

I thought the angle was quite interesting, looking up over the top of the outhouse roof. I cropped the photo slightly to create my reference.

To avoid being too photo-realistic, I decided to leave out the garage and all the unsightly cables.

The painting

I was not at all sure that I was competent enough yet to do this justice in watercolours. As always, the picture went through its “ugly stage” and I wondered if I would ever get it right. I persevered, and all was well.

A lot more work was involved in the painting of the outhouse than the plants. I kept drying each layer with my heat tool and was able to add detail with a fine brush. In the end I was very happy with the result.

I worked this with the paints in the box that my hubby gave me recently – a mixed selection of mostly student-grade paints. It was done in my small Arteza 300 gsm watercolour pad. My hubby was delighted with it, which encouraged me a lot, because watercolour is really his domain! He noticed that I had correctly painted the sky darker at the top and fading out towards the bottom, and he laughed at how I had painted the grotty bits on the outhouse! It is a bit scruffy but it serves its purpose, housing our two freezers. It’s only a step away from the back door so even in pouring rain I don’t get too wet!