anika mari

Now that I’m in my new apartment in Portland, OR, I’ve had the itch to do something creative.  Watercolor seemed like a good medium to explore since my quarters are relatively compact, and I don’t need too much space to paint.

I really wanted to try out my new brushes and paper last night, so even though it was late before I could sit down and paint, I spent an hour on my first watercolor pattern.

Watercolor is one of the few art mediums I’ve never taken a formal class in, so I don’t really know all the “official” techniques.  Never the less, I had a lot of fun painting last night even if I didn’t do it “right”.  I love the feel of the paint brush on the paper, and I enjoy the color variations of watercolor.

I think it turned out reasonably well for my first unplanned attempt.  I’ve been thinking about trying gouache to achieve solid color coverage.  Depending on the pattern, I’d like to combine both traditional water color and gouache for textural contrast.