Goldfish in Watercolor
Growing up we always had an aquarium. It seemed to be the thing in the 70's. Mostly tropical fish, but our neighbor Pauline, always had the most beautiful goldfish. I saw this tutorial by Louise De Masi on Patreon and dove right in, straight back to summertime in the 70's. I had to give it a try.
The reference photo for this beauty was taken by Quentin Le Loarer from Pixabay and can be downloaded by following this link: https://pixabay.com/photos/fish-goldfish-aquarium-swim-sea-4507143/
The initial wash did not thrill me in the least. Louise used Cadmium Red by Winsor & Newton in her painting but I didn't have that color, I had Permanent Deep Red by Paul Reubens. I tried it. Yikes! It made my fish look like it had bloody fins, ewwww. Like back in the day when they would get congested fish disease from kids feeding them too much or not cleaning the tank and we would have to add non iodized salt to the water to clear it up. Poor little fishy.
But this guy, I could help him, so I ended up mixing colors until I got the shade of red shown in the finished painting. Things were humming along nicely until I dropped my paint brush and spattered blue droplets on my paper. You will notice the difference if you check out Louise's finished painting vs. mine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAXHnemT0Og&t=93s I added more water to my painting to cover the paint splatters. Mistakes can be corrected.
So, at the end of the day, when you make a mistake, whether it is in watercolor painting or in daily life, reassess, pick yourself up, and carry on.
Dare to be creative!