I'm currently agonising about my next watercolour. I want to do a view of the still water on the lake at the back of Ballynahinch Castle Hotel, from a picture we took last summer. It's all delicate colours subtly blending into each other, with very little movement. I still don't know how I'm going to do this, so I'm finding any possible excuse to delay the moment when I put paintbrush to paper.One of the books Brendan gave me for Christmas is "taking risks with watercolour" by Shirley Trevena. Her watercolours are nothing like what you'd expect watercolours to be - they are a vibrant riot of colours blending and merging together with little regard for the standard "rules". One of the pieces of advice she gives to fight off the fear of the white page is to do an abstract painting, using all the colours you plan to use for your "proper" painting, and letting loose on the page. A great excuse for me to splatter paint all over the page, and a great way to enjoy putting colours together, without fear of getting it wrong!
Well, thank you Shirley - I did this last night and had a great time with beautiful, vibrant colours. It looks nothing like what my lake painting will eventually look like, but I've put together a lively painting which I'm very happy with. A painting which reminds me of a Philip Treacy hat, hence the title...
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