Vase, orange and pear

Now this one turned out better, didn't it? This time I chose a colourful vase, one that used to belong to my grand-mother, not the knitting one, my other grand-mother, who died when I was six, and whom I don't remember very well, except that one Saint Nicolas she gave me the most beautiful ballerina doll I had ever seen, with blond hair, a pink tutu and a pink crown (which served to control her movements). She came with a little record that you could play, and she used to dance to the Nutcracker suite theme - a twist of her crown would send her in the most delightful pirouettes. I'm sure she had other moves too, but I was not even six, so I don't remember much. I do know that she lost a leg eventually (the doll, not my grand-mother) and she ended her days wearing a cream satin dressing gown made by my mother or my (knitting) grand-mother. To this day, when I hear the Nutcracker suite, I can't help bringing my arms up in a crown and twirling like a six-year-old. I still remember one of my engineers in IBM. He was Russian and the ringtone on his phone was... you guessed it! And yes, one day, I couldn't resist, I did my twirl. It didn't seem to affect our working relationship.

So back to the vase. I decided to add a pear and an orange to both contrast and complement, and I'm rather pleased with the result.

Other lessons learned from this class with Brenda Swenson on Sketchbook Skool:

1. Use watersoluble ink. It will blend in beautifully with your watercolour.
2. When applying the watercolour, start at the top, with the paper on a slight incline, so the colour slips down (but not too fast).
3. Keep highlights unpainted so they pop.
4. Frame your drawing on the page. The drawing will come forward instantly.
5. Touch colours with colour from the adjacent object.
6. Drop a tiny bit of the object's colour in its shadow.
7. Maybe make the shadow lighter - it's a bit too blocky here.
8. Make sure to be consistent in terms of expressing where the light is coming from.
9. Don't worry if some colours bleed from one element to the next. It will add to the painting. But if it's too liquid, use a thirsty brush to pick up the excess.

And here is the original drawing, with my Manuscript calligraphy pen and red ink: