Watercolour disaster

Well it wasn't that the painting was a disaster, it was more the field trip....

Intending to practise my emerging watercolour painting skills, I packed all my stuff, lots of it, into the car, along with Liza the Samoyed.  I drove around 20km to the Tatura Wetlands, had my lunch, unpacked the car, chose a spot to sit and paint, lugged one load of gear from the car, tied up Liza to a convenient tree, returned to the car, with Liza barking frantically fearing I was leaving her forever, got the rest of the gear, lugged it to my spot, and set up to paint.  With everything spread out on a picnic table, I did what my tutor had told me and faithfully made a sketch first.  Then I spread out the paint palette, mixed all the paint, reached for my brushes and......

NOTHING!


Now my late husband Allan was an oil painter and lo and behold there was a terribly ratty fan brush in the bottom of my painting kit.  Allan passed away 16 years ago so this brush has not been used in nearly 20 years and of course is unsuitable for watercolour painting.  Well, I looked at the brush, I looked at the soaking wet palette, and thought, what the heck, splash some paint. 

I managed to make a watercolour painting of sorts, and seeing I have only had two lessons I can probably pass it off as a perfect example of a beginner's folly, but I am actually quite pleased with it in the circumstances.  I will keep it as a reminder to always double check my gear!