Finally. I just received my copy of One Watercolor A Day in the mail! But I’ve only had time to read Veronica Lawlor‘s introduction. When I got to the words, “Let it flow…” I knew I was going to love this book! So after teaching yesterday and after dinner, I sat down to my drawing table with just watercolor. I didn’t have a plan or an idea. I just wanted to swoosh watercolor around on the page and let it flow. What ended up happening was a delightfully fun exercise in play I thought I’d share with you:

1. Choosing colors you like, literally swoosh the paint around, with an eye toward there being several boxes (or only a few!) on the page. Try not to have a pre-conceived notion of what it will be.

2. Make puddles, calligraphic marks and lines, some organic, some geometric. Allow colors to flow into one another.

3. Splatter colors all over the sections on your page. Not only will this add richness to the colors you have painted with, but it will also tie in colors from other “boxes”.

4. Let this dry completely.

I went to bed at this point, and woke up this morning to look at the random watercolors with a fresh eye. And then…

5.  Look at each box. Really stare at it. What do you see? What colors/shapes suggest things to you? Do you “see” flowers? windows? doors? fences? people? landscapes? animals? imaginary things? or simply designs?

6.  Using a fine liner pen or other marker, add a few lines here and there to “clarify” what you see.

7.  Draw a box around it.

8.  Title it (if you want to:).

9. Sign it.

This could be a great warm-up exercise to your drawing/painting session, or something for those times when you’re too tired to concentrate on realistic drawing (as I was after a day of teaching). It only takes a few minutes. In fact, make yourself do the watercolor part very quickly. This will keep your brain from trying to “make something of it” and just let the watercolors flow, like Veronica says in her book. I’m looking forward to seeing what exercises they have for us to do in this book! I know it will be just as fun!!