A rose is a rose

Week four of watercolours and this week we’re painting a rose. Everyone gets a photocopy of the flower in question.

First step: learning the “poor man’s transfer” trick. Instead of buying graphite paper, take a B pencil and fill in the space behind the image.

Then, using an H pencil, trace the outline of the image onto your watercolour paper.

If you squint you can probably make it out. So far so good.

Now the tricky bit. Each petal has to be wetted (making sure they are not adjacent to one another) and painted separately.

Looks oh so easy when the instructor demonstrates.

Actually, no it doesn’t. Nor is it. One student asks if she can leave now. (She doesn’t.) 

Like most of the students I’ve opted for Option B, a painting half the size of the one the instructor is doing.

Then it’s time for the greenery. Again, looks oh so easy when she does it.

Not so much when I (and the other students) give it a go. Then a demonstration on how to do a background wash, leaving a lot of white space.

Oh, sure, I can do that. Not.

A lot of students decided, like me, to go for a full background. 

I can’t finish with a side by side comparison of this week’s effort and the one from some years ago because I gave the original to a friend as a birthday card a while back. She did actually look at it and ask, “Did you paint this?” So I guess it was okay. 

But, hey, you know when you peel off the masking tape and get it off the board, it does look like a rose.

Right?