Wash Day Fun

Who would have imagined that "wash day" could be so much fun.  My Mother always did washing on Mondays.....I remember the washing machine in the basement.....they called them "wringer washers" because of the rollers that were used to wring out the excess water before the clothes were hung out to dry.

The good old days!

Nope.....around here "Wash Day" is when I play with my watercolours .....creating washes with no sense of purpose....just for fun.  Pick a couple of shades, get your water flowing, paint, run, splatter.....do whatever makes you happy....

Then comes the hard part......you have to just leave them, let the water and the paint do their thing......

One of my recent purchases included a set of 5 Quinacridone shades by M. Graham & Co.   I had used Quinacridone Gold by Winsor & Newton and just love it - so I thought I might give these other "Quin" colours a try.....Quinacridone Red, Violet, Rose, Rust and Gold.


So, my first wash was a Quinacridone Gold and Rose - it was a bit sedate for me, so I decided to break it up with some plastic wrap in two places - one area pinched and the other stretched (very technical artsy terms).  I'm already seeing a Hydrangea head and leaves here.....but I'm not going to do any over painting yet.....I have to keep playing....

My second wash was Quinacridone Rust, Rose and Violet -  I think I might have splattered a bit of the Gold that was mixed already on there too.....and it was quite striking.....and a little salt was added strategically.

It is my imagination or can you see a dragon head there?
No wait, now I see a Fox Terrier!

Similar, but totally different.......now I have to leave them and let them speak to me.....they might "rest" for a day, a week, a month or a year until they tell me what they want to be....but that's okay because I'm probably going to wash again tomorrow!

My Blaithin is coming along - update on that tomorrow ok?


Have a great day!