Bank Holiday Fun

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another week of loose watercolours! How’s your week been? Did you get any painting done? It was a bank holiday Monday this week, so I hope you all enjoyed the extra day to spend at your leisure. We certainly did over here in Looseville! Toby and I enjoyed the sun now that it’s starting to show its face for summer, and of course, I did a spot of painting.

I hope you enjoyed the recent live broadcast, ‘Meadow Moments,’ as well. I was inspired by some buzzy bees in the garden – there’s been a lot of them ever since the sun’s come out – and this was a particularly fun paint. And what better time to paint flowers now that we’re in May? I’m planning another live broadcast later this week, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

There’s also another tutorial available now over on Patreon, ‘Berry Bowl.’ It’s a great little tutorial if you’re after more of a challenge, as this is aimed at an intermediate level. Here’s a link if you’d like to give it a go: https://www.patreon.com/andrewgeesonloosewatercolours

In terms of my own painting this week, I found myself Norfolk way! So of course, I ended up practicing some plein air, and created this ‘Old Gate!’ What do you think? I like it as I think the colours made it look very dramatic, which is the effect I was going for! The trees especially ended up looking very dark and mysterious, which was an unexpected side-effect, but a fun one!

If you’re interested in my process, this is what my plein air set up looks like. The photos below show you a bit of a step-by-step of how I get from a blank canvas to the finished picture, but if I’m honest, I’m never exactly sure how it’s going to turn out until I paint the final brushstroke!

This week, I thought we’d carry on the free tutorials with a look at how to paint a simple flower. You like florals. I like florals. Everybody likes florals. So why not learn how to paint one? You know the drill – watch the tutorial a couple of times through so you don’t miss anything that it’s saying, then give it a go yourselves!

Toby’s also been doing a spot of painting this week, and he’s proud as punch with the end result. In fact, he’s almost so proud that he won’t let anyone near it, just in case someone smudges the wet paint! What do you think? Is it “paw”some or what?

That’s all from me this week, as I’ve got to go and warm up my emceeing skills. It’s the 80th anniversary of VE Day this week, and to celebrate, I’m hosting a themed night down at the local pub! So I have to go and start cobbling my act together.

As usual, there’s an exclusive tutorial featured at the end of this post as a special thank you to all of you paid subscribers. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s your generous support that helps keep this Substack running, so I want to thank you with some lovely little tutorials that you can paint. This week’s subject is Hollyhocks!

For the meantime, though, that’s goodbye from Toby and I. We’ll be back in your inboxes very soon, but until then, have a great week, and happy painting!

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