I-Fri: Under the sea

Mostly very quite happy with this one!

One of the things I love most about watercolours is all the different textures and fanning out/mixing of colours you can get by playing on the page, all the little surprises. I had fun playing with this one. and I guess it's fitting to do this theme in watercolours, no?

I am also liking the effect of 'lifting' colour - at first done because I still have little control with the paint and usually put on too much pigment, then have to lift some by blotting with some tissue paper (or, less glamorous but more practical, toilet paper - i go through about half a roll in one sitting!) - but I am actually quite liking it as a technique. As with the octopus' face - I lifted his face colour and then put down a washier purple. will play with this more...

I had said to myself after my spotted post, which I wasn't terribly happy with, that I would simplify my compositions, at least until I got a bit more control of the medium. Alas, they seem to just come out like this, I guess i just like a lot going on in my images, so i'll just have to work BIGGER. What fun!