Capturing a moment.....

 I think one of the things I love to do almost more than anything else I do, is capture a moment. To try as well as I can to show real movement in a painting. I think watercolour is a brilliant medium for showing movement with as it moves with a life of it's own anyway. It does take a long time to get to grips with it's fluidity but once you stop feeling scared of what it can do and allow it to do it's own thing the results can be magical. 

My first few goes were a mess too many splashes so you can't see what is going on, even when, you want to show a real splash you need to be careful, here is a disappointing early attempt.... ..

But all a watercolour painting is , is paper and water so no problem just have another go.

I still had a lot to learn and I can  still feel inhibited and so a painting can feel a bit tense and static. But I began to really experiment 2 or 3 years ago.

This leaping fox was done in 2014, I wanted to show the movement by really letting the brush dance and flicking the paint and blurring the edges. I like the eye and the head to be tight and focused and then leave the rest to the imagination

But watercolour is a lifetime of practises and attempts, for every success there are a lot of failures.

This blue tit I did last year I let the paint take over so that the wing actually looks like it is moving, letting the colours merge into one another, and give the illusion of real movement

and so my enjoyment and freedom increased as the animals leap from the paper. 

As with this heron, sometimes all I need to show is a little flick in a few places, and a continuous flow from the water to the bird

But sometimes I really want to make a splash....

I believe this is where a painter can have the edge over a photographer because the brushstrokes can manipulate the viewer .

I will continue to try to capture movement, it is a real joy. I try to look at birds and animals as much as I can, to study how they move, to practise, practise and practise and see what I can achieve.