The Best Watercolor I'll Probably Ever Do

It's not without effort

I was commissioned back in early December of 2018 to complete a 7"x5"ish painting of a traditional heirloom iris with a tiny tree frog popping out of the bloom. In watercolor.

It turns out I did not "read the assignment" well on the size request. Luckily for me, my commissioner didn't mind the bigger size of 11"x8."

At this point in my life, I don't have much experience in the medium. I mean, high school maybe for the last time I messed with it and I was in my mid thirties. So, I practiced and I practiced. I worked on how colors will overlay. Used tons of watercolor paper. Realizing there is only so much practice to be had, I worked almost frustratingly slow on it just to prevent complete frustration oddly enough.

I learned during practice, that for me, since the medium requires a lot of time between paint strokes for the previous strokes to dry, I would get frustrated that I couldn't just apply a new color and muddle things up. So taking time between paint "sessions" was the best way to handle the slowness and accept the speed of the entire process more.

I don't think I was skilled enough with watercolor to make a smaller painting than the 11"x8" that I ended up doing because as the smaller your canvas goes, the more important each and every dot of paint is to look like what you want it in the end. I mean, if this was acrylic instead of watercolor, I could have even done a smaller than 7"x5" size with great detail since acrylic is more forgiving of mistakes.

I also remember being nervous of how long a "little" watercolor was taking. All in all, I completed this piece in about a month. Maybe I rushed through, but the commissioner didn't mind.

The finished goods

As one who hadn't touched watercolor in many years, I think it came out well. My critique would be to have spent even more time working on doing a better background. More definition in the blurred irises and leaves around the subject. I would have worked on my lighting more and adjusted how I do the lighting for frog to look more natural in the flower. Although this would have meant I would be working more extensively in the medium of watercolor for a very long time but I didn't want the painting to be delivered several months or years from when asked.

I would have to say since I am close to the commissioner of this painting, I feel I won't be doing watercolors like this for just anybody. No matter the frustration with the watercolors though, I'm so proud of myself for this.

I really enjoyed the outcome. :)

---