Seasonal watercolours - little apples and gourds in my Moleskine book

I held a watercolour workshop yesterday, and it just happened that all the students who attended are regular weekly students of mine. My familiarity with their past experience meant that I was able to increase the pressure on them (aw!), knowing they would rise to the challenge, and also gave me the opportunity to sit with them and do a little bit of painting myself, in between demonstrations. In a workshop situation, this is Luxury Personified!

The table, showing my artwork next to the cake stand.

The students painted a lovely seasonal still life of yellow and orange Gerbera flowers with gourds and berries, and I decided to paint the remaining gourds which had been on display on a cake stand. I love gourds, and I also love the cake stand! The top and bottom plate have white spots, the middle plate has stripes.

Autumn colours in the garden, while I was setting the table for lunch.

I drew the objects freely and loosely - partly because I didn't have time to be overly careful (with more than half an eye on my students needs), and partly because I love being relaxed about watercolours. Of all mediums, I find watercolours the most instant and user friendly.

This is as far as I got during the workshop

 The Moleskine paper was fairly heavy, but it did absorb the pigment as I went along, requiring many more layers than I had intended. By the end of the workshop, I had about half of it completed, but the light had gone and I put it away till the next day.

A little while painting the following morning

 I painted for an hour or so, until I could resist the bright crisp day (and the dog, begging) no longer, donned my wooly hat and headed to the shore at Holywood. It was very cold but very beautiful.

White sails from Holywood shore

Across Belfast Lough from Holywood

Finished artwork. 

I spent another hour on the painting -the best bit was mixing the colour for the plate - a lovely mix of Lemon Yellow and Cerulean Blue with a touch of French Ultramarine here and there. 

I enjoyed working in the sketch book - it feels like a free space, and I may do an oil painting of the subject now that I've done this little study.