Over the Dunes, watercolor, 5″x8″
I was showing one of my students how to warm up for painting by playing with a couple pigments. I painted the whole sheet of paper with a variety of yellows, allowing them to bleed into each other. I used diagonal strokes to add some interest. While the yellows were still wet, I held the paper at a steep angle, almost vertically, and started letting greens drip down the page. It was fun to watch some of the greens push other pigments away and race across the page. After it was dry, the challenge was to “find” a picture in what was already on the page. I started seeing a beach scene. I added some shadows to the vegetation, some streaks to the sand in the foreground to give it some contour, and a waterline and waves on the horizon. And now you can see the beach, too!
Ruth Bailey, artist 
3 Responses to Over the Dunes
Beautiful!!! As I’m learning more about watercolor, I’ve been trying that kind of technique. I enjoyed it so much that I found I did that a lot, and then felt sort of guilty — as if I were being lazy just letting the paint do whatever it wanted and then figuring out if I had something worthwhile. Some of the prettiest pictures have come from that. I’m totally an amateur at this, but since I do it only to de-stress and relax, I do just whatever feels good at the time. 🙂
Have you heard or read artists who say, “Let the picture paint itself?” This is what they’re doing! Letting the paint do what it does best by itself and then figuring out where to go from there (and best to do less at this point!). Please don’t feel guilty! It takes some people years to figure out how to do so little and enjoy it.
Spontaneity can be so powerful and can generate such lovely work!