I have now successfully completed the World Watercolor Month challenge of doing some kind of watercolor painting each day of July. I have had a tremendous amount of fun and improved my skills and confidence. Thank you all for your support and encouragement for my painting efforts throughout this month.
If you want to see the first four installments of my painting efforts this month, check out my previous postings ‘More fun with watercolor‘, ‘World Watercolor Month 2020—part 2 ,’ ‘World Watercolor Month 2020—part 3,’ and Word Watercolor Month—part 4. This final installment highlights my painting efforts over the past nine days in reverse chronological order.
Day 31 and the prompt was “do-over,” so I had another go at painting a scene that I painted last November while in Paris of a lady with a red umbrella crossing a pedestrian bridge over the Seine that I had photographed. Here is a link to the posting ‘Playing with watercolor in Paris‘ that shows the November version of the painting, and a link to the post ‘A few more umbrellas in Paris‘ that shows the photo on which the paintings were based.
Day 30 and the prompt was “pose.” I decided to be my own model and painted a version of the photo that has been my profile image for a while. Thanks to my friend, Cindy Dyer, for taking such a good photo of me.
Day 29 and the prompt was “yesterday.” Immediately thinking of the Beatle song by that name, I was flooded with memories of growing up in the 1960’s, so I did a colorful little painting reminiscent of a tie-dyed t-shirt as a kind of homage to that period in my life.
Day 28 and the prompt was “complementary.” Purple and yellow are complementary colors, so I decided to paint a field of imaginary wildflowers in those colors. I made no attempt at realism or nuance in the painting—I just wanted to play with the paint.
Day 27 and the prompt was “shine,” so I painted a little landscape with the moon shining down on a grove of shadowy trees.
Day 26 and the prompt was “favorite song.” I remembered that one of my parents’ favorite hymns was “His Eye is on the Sparrow,” so I painted a little sparrow. The final line of the wonderful hymn is, “His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me.”
Day 25 and the prompt was “sharp.” I decided to paint a version of a photo I had previously taken of a dragonfly that had chosen a precarious perch on a thorny vine.
Day 24 and the prompt was “abundance,” so I did a tiny painting (3×3 in/76 x 76 mm) of a field full of bright red poppies following a YouTube tutorial by Ellen Crimi-Trent (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDC7Aojxm4&t=83s). It’s fun to paint something so small, where details are only suggested.
Day 23 and the prompt was “alone,” so I painted a solitary bird perched amidst some blossoms. It kind of looks like a cross between a chickadee and an American Robin. I later learned that the bird looks to be a Varied Tit, a bird found in the Far East. I had loosely followed a YouTube tutorial that did not identify the bird (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtlLzgfnQxw&t=1222s).
I plan to continue with my watercolor painting, having seen that frequent practice really helps, but it will probably be a while before I post any paintings here on the blog. Thanks again for your support and indulgence as I have veered off my normal creative path.
We should be back to my regularly scheduled nature photography, though you have probably noticed that the photography continued without any discernible pause in July.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Great job! You are very brave. I have always wanted to nature sketch or paint but my perfectionist side won’t allow it. I ended up pitching them in the trash! So I envy you. Wulliam
I can sometimes be a perfectionist when it comes to photography, but I am ok with proudly being a beginner when it comes to painting with watercolors. As one artist I know is fond of saying, there is no shame in being a beginner. On my blog I like to share what interests and/or excites. There are plenty of great professional photographers, but none of them can be me as well as I can. 🙂
I started out trying to pick a favorite, but I like so many. You did some good work this month, Mike.
Thanks, Dan. There are some paintings that I especially like and then there are elements of some others that I really like. All and all it has been a fun learning experience. It may well turn out that the things that I want to paint may not be the same ones that I want to photograph–landscapes, for example, may fall into that category.
Nice Mike! Especially liked the self portrait & the dragonfly!
Thanks, Reed. With the self-portrait, I was sort of trying to copy the photo. whereas with the dragonfly, I changed the eye colors and the body markings. Both, though, had fine details that were impossible for me to replicate.
I admire your tenacity in practicing painting skills. I enjoyed the posts. I am no expert in any sense on art. But I think I noticed an incredible amount of detail on the dragonfly painting… I could even see its expressions – Wow. Again just my two cents. Great job. 😊
Thanks, Suzette. I recall reading somewhere that a painter should be really familiar with his subject. I have lots of experience with dragonflies and I think that really helped me add in some important details.
…..bravo, Mike Powell
Thanks. One of the coolest things now after a month of daily playing with my watercolor is that I am so much more comfortable with experimenting rather than simply trying to replicate a photo. I am still trying a lot of different styles and techniques (including a monumental disaster when I tried to paint using primarily a credit card and a spray bottle) and still haven’t decided what subjects I want to paint and/or what style or approach I would like to use. It’s a big watercolor world out there. 🙂
….a big watercolour world which now includes Mike Powell. Thank you for your enthusiasm and modelling the joy of discovery.
Yesterday, Benjamin also completed the July 2020 World Watercolor Month challenge. He did not often follow the prompts, as he chooses to paint whatever pops into his mind when the paintbrush or watercolor pen is in his hand. This year he also introduced the art of watercolor to his Auntie H. and they became watercolorist companions every afternoon that he was here…together experiencing the fun whilst advancing their skills. YOU have produced a marvelous portfolio of beautiful watercolor paintings this month and Benjamin & I have enjoyed these posts immensely! It is impossible for me to choose a favorite amongst these paintings but the self portrait is fantastic. I cannot wait to learn on Monday which painting Benjamin will choose, but I imagine that the dragonfly will be at the top of the list! Thank-you, Mr. Mike!
Thanks so much, Ellen. It is great to learn about the approach that Benjamin takes. I’m pretty sure that will be my approach from now on. It is exiting that he has someone with whom he can paint. My friend Cindy, who is a talented painter as well as photographer, gardener, and graphic designer, and I are planning to paint together sometime. She usually paints in acrylics, but wants to try sumi-e ink painting. She also is will to do watercolor with me, though she has only limited experience with it. I feel pretty confident that Benjamin will pick the dragonfly, but he might surprise us both and choose a different one.
Great job, Mike!! 💚😊 A wonderful collection. Love your birds!!
Thanks, Patty Anne. There is no way that you could know it, but your posts helped to get me in the proper frame of mind to jump start my watercolor efforts. You always are so positive in your postings and emphasize the joy of creation, which helped me to convince myself that I could do it. My fears helped to wear away each time that I would read statements of yours like, “I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Art is for everyone, hope you join in on the fun.” Now I am a true believer that indeed art is fun and is for everyone, irrespective of their skill level. Thanks.
Oh Mike that is so awesome to hear. I’m so happy that you’ve been inspired by my posts and are having fun creating art. You made my day my friend! 😊💚
I like them all but especially the dragonfly. It reminds me of what i used to do with pen and ink, and watercolors. I’d guess that you found doing it quite different.
Thanks for the reminder of Yesterday. Now I’ll have to listen to it.
Thanks, Allen. I like the idea of doing pen and ink and watercolor together, but need work on my drawing skills. It seems to me that I can do finer details with a pen that with a brush and that would definitely be a help, I think.
Yes, depending on the pen you can do very fine work. I used to use India ink that came in a bottle but these days you can buy pens with ink in them, I believe.
I thought your drawing skills were fine on that dragonfly.
Thanks. I was essentially copying a photo when I did the dragonfly, so I had a crutch. Drawing from life is so much harder, it seems. A dip pen is definitely one of the options I am looking at.
You’v e got to start somewhere!
and haven’t you done well? VERY well done Mike!!!
Thanks, Liz. There were been some ups and downs in terms of the quality of what I produced over the month, but I am pretty happy with the results and proud that I managed to stick with it for the whole month.
Wow. Please keep it up and please keep sharing.
Thanks for the encouragement, Gary.
Yay! Good for you. 🙂
Thanks, Louella. It was a lot of fun–I plan to continue with watercolors, but perhaps not every day now.
Namaste, Mr. Mike! I am so proud of you cause you made a watercolor every day the whole month. I painted a lot, but not every day just almost every day. These watercolors are really really good! I love the Dragonfly! I made the painting bigger and biggest just like with photos. Wowza, then the Dragonfly is even more awesome. I want to paint a Dragonfly like yours but maybe a little different. I painted a Dinosaur for the last day that is kind of like that. Thank you and Bye!
Thanks, Benjamin. I was happy that I managed to paint every day. I hope to continue on in August, but will probably try to paint every few days. I am glad that you liked the dragonfly. I based the painting on one of my photos, but changed the eye color, the color of the branch, and even some of the markings on the body. One of the nice things about the dragonfly’s pose was that we see the dragonfly’s wings from an angle. For me it is difficult to paint a dragonfly’s wings. I am happy that you too were painting a lot. I really enjoy playing with the paints, even when things don’t turn out the way that I planned. Happy August, Benjamin. I hope it is a fun month for you.