Watercolorists

It was a beautiful day today.  And even better news; Mira had been able to get to the shops on her way in this morning, to buy us a block of special (and rather expensive!) artists' watercolour paper.  What better excuse did we need to pack our bags with paint brushes, watercolour paints, beakers, paper towels and water bottles.....

 

tuck our clipboards under our arms.....

 

and head off once more to the place of the moment, Chateau de Penthes? 

Once there, we chose our favourite view; a difficult task when everywhere is so beautiful!  Did we want to look towards the fragrant rhododendrons and azaleas, or was our preference the view of the majestic trees or that famous lake?

We finally settled ourselves on the wall around the terrace, perched a clipboard on our knees and set to.

Choose a broad brush and use it to wash the paper with water. 

Switch to a finer brush.  Wet it and then dab it dry on your paper towel.

Select your colour.....

 

and away you go!

Perhaps you'd like a background wash of blue.....

or green.

 

Next, what about some trees?  Mind you look closely at the colours and shapes though!

 

 

 

 

And now, how about a bit of detail to show the flowers or leaves?

Don't forget to keep checking the view, to make sure you have captured it just so.....

 

and try not to leave any of the paper blank!

Keep going; bit.....

by bit.....

..........by bit

If it's still a bit wet.....

 

you might need a final few dabs of that paper towel.....

before you leave it in the (dappled) sunlight to dry for a minute or so.....

.....while you race off to use up a just a bit of a seven-year-old's exuberant energy prior to heading back for (yet another late) lunch.

Oh - and before you go, have a quick look at a selection of our end results.  There are more than a few that I would be very happy to have framed and hanging on my wall at home (in fact Sofia has already offered to sell me hers; sorry mum!)  What about you?  Any offers?