I set myself the challenge of trying all of the techniques in the 10th Creative JumpStart organized by Nathalie Kalbach. This week included Gelli printing with a homemade stencil, illustrations with watercolour, tonal painting with gouache, paper quilting two ways, using texture in watercolour and stitching a story. I almost didn’t do the watercolour ones, as I really don’t get along well with the medium… but I had a go and was rather happy with the results. I haven’t done the stitching one as I don’t have kids doing naive outline drawings! Each of the featured artists has recorded a 10-minute video tutorial, and they’re all super easy to follow. Here’s this week’s work:

The main reason I chose to do the course was to learn more mixed media techniques (and to have something to do while the Studio is closed!), which is why I am attempting all of the lessons. This week I’ve played with gouache for the first time (see the sunlit trees) and liked the way it’s opaque and over-paints previous layers.

Who knew that bin liners help texture watercolour backgrounds? I think I prefer the effect that cling film has, but the bin liner version is a lot quicker as it doesn’t need to dry for the texture to develop.

The mermouse is a straight copy from the tutorial but was the lesson I was most reticent about because of the watercolour. I tend to use too much paint, which doesn’t have the translucency that is normally the hallmark of watercolour work. This time though I followed instructions, used plenty of colours and water and had a half-decent result.

There is still a month’s worth of lessons to go, so it’s not too late to join in!