The watercolor dance

Painting with watercolor (or watercolour, depending on your preference), is like dancing. Like dancing with a different partner every time. You have to watch carefully to see which way it’s going to lead you, what the next step should be, and if anyone else on the dance floor is going to crash into you. Sometimes you trip up, but when you become an observant dancer . . . I mean painter . . . you can see things coming and gracefully spin it in your favor. Watercolor, like dancing, is all about timing, technique and practice. I have been painting pretty steady for the past 5 years, and I still approach each painting with a certain amount of respectful trepidation. I always hope that my new partner is dancing to the same song I am, and we can finish the dance with a graceful flourish.

Here is an example of a happy accident, painted in my second year of the watercolor dance. The brush, loaded with Alizarin Crimson, flipped inexplicably out of my fingers, and splatted a big ol’ spatter of paint on the white paper. Now, you know crimson isn’t going to be wiped off. So there it was. Cherry juice. I added a few more splats of juice, and carried on.

Cherry Pie - watercolor by Tracy Wandling