Watercolour workshop with Sue Hibbert

I have been trying to get into one of artist Sue Hibbert's classes for ages, and I think I'm not the only one - they always seem to sell out faster than I can organise myself. But this 2 hour watercolour workshop came up at the right time for me and I managed to make it in.

Although I've been painting with watercolour for a while now, I'm mostly self-taught and somewhat chaotic (or intuitive maybe?). It was nice to work larger and in a more traditional style, whilst still embracing the unpredictability of watercolour and going where the painting wants to go. I could of course easily spot a bunch of things I admire about Sue's version that I didn't manage in mine, but looking at it on its own it doesn't feel so bad. The big round brush and fan brush were new to me and I struggled to get the lightness and restraint I'd like, something that will hopefully come with more practice working at this scale.

My thumbnail sketch, colour testing, brush testing, and other notes

Afterwards I had to give the same reference image another go but at a more familiar size to me, in my A5 sized Alpha Sketchbook 7. I still lost more white than I would have liked, but I think the colours were more successful.

Top sketch is from Sue's reference image, the bottom two are from a recent trip to Margaret River

Doing a little landscape like this made me want to do more, and the two quick sketches from photos I took on a recent trip helped me explore colour and value without spending too much time.

I really want to get more serious about watercolour this year, and this workshop with Sue was a great way to kick that off!