Spring in Watercolour

Spring – it’s finally here! Absolutely my favourite season as an artist (until we get to autumn that is, and the others are pretty good too). The early flowering bulbs have been uplifting after the dark days of winter, and it’s become an annual ritual to paint or draw them in some way. The blooms are so fleeting that it feels like a new experience every year. I launch myself enthusiastically into painting them, and then remember how tricky it is to mix the perfect range of yellows for daffodils, or how to make delicate snowdrops stand out against a complicated background of fallen leaves and dark earth.

It can be confounding that the freshest, purest colours in nature lend themselves so beautifully to watercolour, but can also be the most difficult to describe on the paper. It is the job of the artist, however, to find a work-around. Each year I tend to approach these issues in a slightly different way, hopefully being able to call upon any new techniques or materials that I might have come across, through painting other subjects. As with all pursuits, practice brings with it a degree of confidence, and it becomes easier to convert ideas into form.

Also, my view of what’s important to include in a painting changes over time – the main focus of a picture is likely to alter with the understanding that the viewer is able to make sense of what they’re looking at. This continuous questioning and refining helps me to describe the little snapshots of nature that catch my eye and hold my attention at this time of year.

As early spring moves to late spring, nature takes on an altogether different look.

New leaves unfold and give the trees and hedgerows a billowy appearance, creating yet more painting challenges. I really love this transitional stage, where the skeletal structure of the countryside is still visible, but overlaid with spattered greens and clouds of blossom. Definitely my favourite season.