Sketching and Painting with splashes

I came across an interesting little video recently, about painting splashes across the paper before starting your sketch.



As I'm still struggling with inspiration, this is a good way to banish the fear of the blank page!

So I picked up a photograph from an old holiday and a piece of watercolour paper. I splashed away, then did a careful drawing (I'm reading a book on Perspective right now!!)

I did two versions. The first one, with the splashes above, was too dark, and I wasn't happy with my muddy shadows.

So, I picked up another sheet of watercolour paper (it's great to have cheap watercolour paper for these trials and errors), splashed again, with less red this time, drew the same scene, trying to correct the mistakes I found from the first attempt, and then I added details and shadows with watercolour. It was a fun technique, and definitely useful for those days when you feel you will never be able to paint a decent watercolour again! A feeling I haven't been able to shake since June!!