There is no doubt that the impact of my trip to Singapore over Xmas/New Year has been huge on my art. I am working wetter and have been weaned off my inklines… but this sketch is almost one step further. I did do a few very basic setup lines in a lavender pencil but then just went for it with my paint. I was painting the lines. I could have done this entire sketch without any lines (oh! just ignore the fact that I used a watercolour pencil for the fence)

I am currently using a Stillman & Birn Beta book – it is very very nice thick watercolour paper but the sizing on the paper means that the paint sits on the surface of the paper longer than I am used it. Combined with the fact that I was working quite wet this afternoon meant that I was really working wet in wet. I did have a momentary thought early on that I should slow down and wait for the paint to dry,  but I quickly abandoned that idea…deciding instead to go with the flow (literally!) I was sitting in my car, halfway home from the gym and not wanting to get caught in the traffic….there are always many reasons that I give myself for going fast!

What is really interesting about this exercise is how the hard edges of the building have still been expressed despite the bleeds left right and centre. I am really enjoying breaking away from my previous addiction to lines. At heart I am an architect, so that obsession will never go away…. but it is so much fun to explore new stuff!