Up close and personal
Watercolour painting often comes with an adrenalin rush! The excitement engendered by an ephemeral lighting pattern renders time of the essence and heightens the senses, with the rise in adrenalin undoubtedly exacerbated if the subject is moving. Heightened senses are useful, as they concentrate the mind and help inform the watercolour mixes and brushwork during painting, but haste may also cause a watercolour to miss the mark. In this article the adrenalin-fuelled circumstances of painting people and animals on the move are replaced by the measured calm of the closer view, when the subject is relatively still and detail can be observed through facial and full figure portraits.
The closer view
I love form and find the narrow depth of field in closer views compelling. Observation of detail brings its own satisfaction, and if this can be turned into
