I like to doodle. Sometimes, they turn out cool. Like this guy, where once a thumbnail sized fill-a-shape was iterated on until it took form and I took it into Procreate on my iPad.
A silly little doodle (top left hand corner) turned into a very interesting stylization and abstraction of a human posing.
I invited an old family friend over for a quick lesson on how to use watercolours. She was completely new to the medium, so we did a little exercise: Luminous Gems.
We looked at the different types of gemstones and the cut they have. From Princess to Pear and Baguette and Asscher, our reference material was essentially simple shapes which we then filled with watercolour paint.
Classic beginner’s stuff! I thought it would be a easy exercise. It was a warm up I used to do a couple years ago.
Getting to know the medium is more important than leaving with a gorgeous painting.
The session went great and I was glad we did it.
But it wasn’t without a snag or two. It taught me that some of the intimidation that the medium has, such as uncertainty of colour choice and use is real to a beginner. This is an issue I faced 12 years ago, yet for my friend, this was top of mind.
Putting myself into a beginner’s mindset is new.
It will take practice.