Life by the River
Our track to the river leads to a small jetty , a little pebbly beach, some lovely rocks and a fair amount of flotsom and jetsom. It’s always interesting to see what’s washed up. A few weeks ago, after a windy night, I noticed I couln’t see the white mooring buoy from our window anymore. When I walked over the road and down to the river I found it washed up by the jetty.
There’s lots of driftwood, the odd shoe, and bits of boat equipment lying around. I like to have a look around the rocks to check what’s new and today’s postcard is of a rusty rowlock I found a few days ago.
I liked how the rust reflected the warm colours on the large boulder so I picked it up and sat it on top.
First things first – it’s a terrible composition! I plonked in a great round rock without enough thought and it’s breaking the sketch in half.
I was using my least skilled medium of watercolour so it became difficult to fix this by the time I realised what I’d done. The sketchbook paper is quite lightwieght and doesn’t cope with scrubbing out pigment so I’m stuck with this now.
It’s so easy to focus on everything that’s gone badly!
I always look for something to be pleased with in a painting.
I make myself conciously find at least one area I think has gone well with every painting. Sometimes it takes awhile to find! Today I’m happy with the suggestion of rising mist across the river.
Looking for the positives helps me recognise the skills I do have which I’ve only developed by practice, practice and more practice. That reminds me that I can improve and overcome problem areas if I’m willing to put in the work. I know the only way I’m going to improve is by embracing and learning from the “failures” so I’m lucky I have a lot of failures to learn from!
Lindy Whitton Studio 
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