Anyone use watercolours?

[Curiousmama]

I used them for the first time today and have only used acrylics before. I found them quite tricky but can see how effective they can be.
I've started an art class and we use different mediums each week. It's acrylics next week so should manage ok?

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I did a watercolour class for over a year, and did enjoy it, but it is a very unforgiving medium - my last art teacher said it is the hardest of all, because so often, if you make a mistake, you can't correct it.

I have a picture that I was really pleased with - I'd tried to paint this particular picture several times (it was a picture of ds2 looking across to Mull, on a beach on Iona), but it all went wrong at the last minute, and was completely irretrievable - I was sooo cross.

I now use acrylics and far prefer them - not just because I can paint over my mistakes, but because you can get lovely texture in acrylics, the colours are so vibrant, and also they dry fast so layering colours and textures is easier than with oilpaints.

Our current art teacher has got me to try sketching with the paint, rather than drawing everything meticulously beforehand, and it is actually coming out quite well - and I started with a yellow ochre wash too, which was also very helpful.

What sort of things are you painting, Curiousmama? I should be painting a picture of my mother's cat - she's asked me to do this for her as her birthday present, but I have only just over a month to go, and this cat is NOT going well (I was painting the cat before the new art teacher started, so the poor moggy, sadly - it's not the paint-sketched painting that is going well).

Thanks for your reply SDTG. I also like acrylics and agree watercolour is very unforgiving, no room for error! I like to paint landscape and really prefer impressionist's work.
A good friend of mine is an excellent watercolour artist,she is so very detailed. I talked to her last night and she's going to give me a free private lesson at her house I do her hair for her so she'll get it coloured and cut free. She also said she sketches with the paint so will no doubt show me how to do it?
The art teacher I go to seems to let you get on with it She's rather flaky tbh. I like her but don't rate her as a teacher. I did go to a 10 week course in my home town and the teacher there was excellent. He showed us how to do a painting from scratch then we all did our own version. He came round a lot and helped us. Hopefully as we go on she'll get better? If not I doubt I'll do another course.

When I get some work done I'll put them on my profile. I have some pics I did in acrylics which people like but I think they're very amateur
I've just ordered a palette of 45 watercolours and some sable brushes from ebay. My friend told me to get pans so I did. Can't wait for them to come

I would love to be better at watercolours than I am - they have a translucency that can be so beautiful. I'm hoping that the work I am doing with acrylics will improve my overall skills, so that I will be able to have another, more successful go at watercolours.

I just wish I had somewhere at home where I could leave my paints etc out, so that doing some painting didn't have to mean clearing the table, hauling everything through, setting it all up and then putting it all away when I stop - it is all just too much hassle at the moment. [lazy moo emoticon]