Trying to be creative

 Carrying on with my watercolour class. Trying to free up my technique a bit, as I tend to be too careful and not sploshy enough. Sometimes the best results come when you're not really trying. I've invented a thing I call 'the sploshy' where I just paint any way, not being too concerned about getting things 'right' and just enjoying putting paint on the paper and seeing what happens.

This is an arrangement I set up in class this week; a tall red glass bottle, an apple, a tomato and a dahlia. I borrowed a cup from the tea area, a wonderful vermilion colour. This is not a finished work, rather what I would term an exploration or inquiry, more about colours and arrangement than perspective.  I like to place a temporary frame around a picture, it seems to give a better idea of things.

This is a more careful study in coloured pencil, slightly altered; no dahlia but a bashful apple instead. This was to suit the width of the paper that I had available. I like coloured pencil, but it is always more subdued and takes longer to produce, but I find is quite a calming, meditative process, building layers of colour up and slowly darkening and intensifying them.

Here's a photo of the arrangement, with  green glass standing in for the vermilion cup, which belongs to the Baptist Church Drop-In Centre and had to stay behind. This was taken at night, so isn't a real guide to colours and shadows. I might try this in crayon, to get another insight into a different medium. And of course, just a straight pencil drawing for darks and lights. A good arrrangement and well worth exploring.