Playing with watercolours

We went to Boondoomba Dam again for Easter (a bit of a family tradition as we've been going since about 2000 ish) and I managed to get some really decent crafting time in. I did spend a lot of time reading and playing games but I took my watercolour stuff out there and I had some fun on Sunday afternoon. I will also have some photos of some crochet to share with you but I didn't get good photos so I will have to get those on a sunny day. 

I set myself up on one of the tables we had and the view was just stunning. I knew I wanted to try to capture it. I really really really want to work on being able to paint what I see better. I will get there eventually when I have time to practice more.

\I love the watercolour style where you put down the colour and then add pen outlines to it. It's just what I love to fiddle with.  Here is the picture before the ink was added (well much ink I had started the donkey before I remembered to take a photo). Nothing is sticking out very well.

As I kept going you can see it starting to pull out the details. We have such an awesome fire pit set up each year. The rocks stay there permanently and there are lots of areas to work around. We are starting to get very adept at cooking on the fire. My mum managed to bake two cakes while we were out there. Fresh baked cake is just to die for yummy!

And here is the finished picture. I kept the detail in the background to a minimum trying to make it look further away. I used too dark a green or the shadows under the trees but it's all a learning curve.

Then I started another picture after having a talk with mum and my cousin about foregrounds and backgrounds so I felt better able to get the look I wanted.  Eventually I will have a painting of this  scene below.

But not long after starting we got the only rain all weekend and I went and packed up. Then I was roped into a game of Kubb.  So here is my current position for this painting. I'm trying to keep the background lighter and the foreground brighter. We shall see how I go.

have you guys tried watercolours/landscape pictures and can give me some pointers for getting a good background/foreground definition happening?

I'm really happy with these pictures and I am looking forward to getting the second one finished. I am proud of what I achieved and hope to eventually be able to look at any scene and have the picture come out as I want it to.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin