Wrestling with a cup

Hang in just a wee bit more, I know you’re sick of hearing about my struggles with the Direct Watercolor when the challenge (and the month) are long over.

I’m a bit behind on posting, and onto a new summer adventure that I will blog next. But for just now the day I wrestled with and lost to a seemingly simple subject: a mug. One cup of chai in a lovely Mid-Century Modern mug. How hard could it be.

The trouble, I think, is pattern. I love the funky pattern on my newly acquired set of cups, and trying to capture the spirit of the pattern kept getting in the way of painting a simple , bold, loose cup of chai.

So here they are, all my attempts.

#1. You’d never guess it’s a white mug.

Just going to pause here to say that this point of a sketch (below) is the exact point at which I am itching to pull out my pen, throw in come line and then go back to rendering pattern.

But I committed to trying this all in direct watercolor, right? So here is #2. Even trying to ‘draw in some line’ with dark paint at the end couldn’t rescue it.

#3 and #4 were a bit better.

I’m going to put it down to a bad day. Or to not having the patience to wait for stuff to dry just a wee bit.

Or maybe I’m just missing my pen too much. But if I got as far as day 25 of the challenge, I’m not throwing the towel in yet. I think. But I am calling this cup of chai done. For now.