Making of Moths & Friends Watercolour Painting

I recently finished a painting I initially sketched in February of 2023. Here is the process.

Moth and Friends Mixed Media on Arches Hot Pressed Paper

I have lots of ideas on lots of different subjects, but while I have moths in my head, I thought I's stick to the subject of moths. I love finding shapes within a shape, and this is what I'm doing here. In 2023, I was all about woodblock printmaking, so I sketched this with the intention of making a woodblock print. It did not sit well with me, as I wanted colors and textures I cannot create with woodblock print techniques, so I held onto the sketches until I could be satisfied with my ideas for how to proceed.

Deciding on colors was the most difficult, as usual. I had not much experience with watercolor, so no confidence in being able to replicate what I imagined in my head. With watercolor, some errors can be fixed, but not really like hitting "undo" on the computer. So I made trial after trial of color combos along with technical practices.

Eventually I decided not to go with too many colors, as I have changed from my initial composition of solo moth to many. But now that I look at these trials, it makes me want to try painting this looser way as well.

I used Saral Transfer Paper to transfer my composition onto Arches hot press watercolor paper I had. This year I am trying not to buy new materials and use what I have, so the paper was 185gsm and not 300gsm, which is ideal for watercolor, hence a little buckling you can see on the finished painting. This is being pressed flat as we speak.

Watercolour I used is Sennelier, and the reason this artowork is categorised as a mixed media, is that I used the turquoise green of Caran D'ache Neocolor 2. Neocolor 2 is a water-soluble crayon, and has a little wax in it, so technically I cannot call it a watercolor (but Sennelier watercolor has honey as binding, so very similar?).

As I am a single mother working part-time as a housekeeper, plus my own solo small business, the painting stage took me about a month (or probably more) to finish. I even took it on a 7 hour drive when I evacuated from an approaching cyclone, and finished it there. The painting process though was very meditative, calming and thoroughly enjoyable I found the joy in watercolour.

I am now working on other pieces for this series.

The original artwork is 38 x 38cm, and affordable prints are available in different sizes up to 40 x 40cm

Moth and Friends Watercolor Original Painting

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Moth and Friends Fine Art Print -Unframed

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