prototype painting

the experimental work progressed well yesterday. Photos later...

Painting in watercolour involves painting "back to front" or "inside out". Painting in acrylic or oil involves a completely different technique. Acrylics may also be used as watercolours, the difference being largely that once they have dried they are permanent, nothing can be changed. If you know your watercolour paints well and choose wisely then things can be changed quite effectively even after they have dried. I prefer to use staining colours, so must also think well before I apply them!

What I set out to do yesterday was to find a way of combining the two techniques so that I had the fluidity and mystery of the watercolours for the olive trees, and the brilliance and light for the foreground poppies, but the substance of the oil or acrylic to hold the work mounted on canvas for my local clients. Here works on paper are not highly desirable because of the damp in the stone houses.

I am close to achieving it. The tricky part is the transition from one mode of painting to another, from washes and glazes to thick layers of paint. Equally tricky and for now more important is remembering which paint is which, and not using my precious watercolour brushes in the acrylics. I have put Sabina away now, she did her part in the early stages of the painting. An unnoticed "accidental brush" with acrylic paint would destroy her.

Now to find a healthy varnish...