Susan Keeble

I've been sketching at some local allotments. Not much growing at the moment, but lovely structures and patterns to draw. 

Here is my desk, with sketchbooks, paints, taped up paper - I'm using lovely handmade Two Rivers watercolour paper, which has a beautiful texture, and is tough enough to take rough treatment.

First layer of paint.

Ugly stage!

Now I feel free to start darkening up some of the tones, and introducing a few details. 

I enjoy building up the layers with texture - really important for visual interest. Here I am using a sponge roller to add some broken brightness in the foreground.

Stepping back, I now wish I had used three bottles instead of two.

Basic mistake!

Here I am using a handy cut out shape of newspaper to help decide on the size and position of the new bottle.

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Some drawing has taken place, with watercolour pencils, so that the lines will not interfere with the paint later.

Yellow sky - why not?

The tunnel structures are the strongest feature in the composition at this stage, so I am reserving the white paper for the time being with a liberal use of masking fluid.

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These bottles on sticks are semi-transparent, so I am applying masking fluid on top of a layer of paint. Layering is really important to me in my paintings.

I'm using mostly Daniel Smith's watercolours, with a few Schmincke. Ooh...that Schmincke cobalt turquoise!

Now it looks completely different, and I need to balance it out all over again. Fortunately, the strong surface of the paper allows a lot of scrubbing and scratching and lifting out. 

A few tweaks and I think it is finished for now.