Bushy Park Watercolour

I finished the Bushy Park painting yesterday. After completing the reflections in the water (they worked out quite well actually), I removed the last bit of masking fluid and painted the leaves on the big tree. I then added a few splashes towards the bottom left - it was a bit empty there and the water's edge just disappeared in a line that took the eye straight out of the painting. After a few splashes of green in the top right corner, I felt the painting was well balanced. And I'm pretty happy with my tree on the right - I had masked it with masking film (the best thing for big shapes), and then I applied well-diluted ochre over the whole surface, and then a mix of payne's grey, ultramarine and lemon yellow for the shadows.

The green and gold leaves don't look so good, though - my masking fluid was giving me trouble, and I didn't define the shapes sharply enough. What was to be the crisp highlight of the painting ended up lumpy. The rest is pretty nice, and I've learned plenty. I might try out a bit of masking fluid on board again tomorrow and see what happens. I've got a fresh bottle and I'll try various application techniques - I'm not sure about the incredible nib - it keeps its shape all right, but I found it hard to draw a precise shape with it. Maybe I'll use one of my Uggly Brushes from Cheap Joes instead. Or maybe my drawing of the leaves was lumpy in the first place...

Check out this website for instructions on how to use masking fluid.