Fishing at sunset by Rebecca Louise Saunders

I like the simple style Rebecca, lovely images. However, I do think less water and more pigment would give you richer colours and depth. Also, once you have laied down the paint, leave it to dry, and don't be tempted to fiddle with it while it's wet. That would help to avoid runbacks. I hope thats helpful, and I'm sure we'll see your sytle develop even more!

Hi Tony, thank you for looking through my artwork and for commenting :-) what do you mean by less water and more pigment? A drier brush? I worry about when using watercolours, they are meant to be watery and wishy-washy, and I feel i am perhaps using too much colour. thank you for your advise :-)

Bless you're cotten socks! No rebecca, watercolours are not meant to be watery and wishy-washy. Sometimes, pehaps, but not usually. First, remember that watercolours dry lighter than they look when wet, so don't be afraid to make you colours stronger and a little darker than you expect them to be. From your painting above, I'm guessing you did the sky wet in wet? Which means you wetted the paper first, which is perfectly correct. But - if you mix your paints too watery, and then put it on watery paper, the paint is diluted even more - follow? Things in the distance should generally be a "little" watered down and pale, that makes them seem further away. Let that dry completely, and don't be tempted to fiddle. then, for things closer, mix your paints with very little water, a bit like single cream texture? This gives you stronger colours and when you paint over the pale background these things (like your boat for example) seem closer. If you want to, while the paint is still wet, drop in tiny amounts of a darker shade, almost neat (no water) where you want a shadow, and let it mix (on its own) with the first paint - just touch it in, don't be tempted to push the paint around, as this will give you runbacks. Don't overdo it though, as it starts to look messy. Watercolours are about keeping the colours fresh and bright. Overwork it and it starts to look muddy. Hope that helps. You should look at other watercolours in the gallery, and try to work out how they did it. If you can't, then ask the artist - most are very happy to help. The forum is a good place for advise, the artists there are always happy to help out. Sorry about the lecture!

Actually - I've just looked at your later posting, you and a drawing machine? the colours there are much richer - It's a good painting. I hope you can see how much better it looks when it's not all washed out! Well done.

Hi Tony, :-) thanks very much for both of your comments and your advise, i appreciate them both. The drawing machine, :-p yes i cheated! :-) it is a machine for children, but due to my size, i use it, no batteries needed, it is (i think) a method of using mirrors, wo when you look through the eye view finder, the picture you look at can be seen below on your drawing desk, but only when you are looking through the viewfinder, so then you draw while looking through the machine. This painting though was created by another cheats method that is a secret :-p