The Duck Pond, Salthouse

 Kieron Williamson | Watercolour | 9 x 7 inches 

About the painting:

“I struggled to capture this scene in oil, the soft transitions of colour were much better suited to watercolour or pastel. I always get excited driving past the duck ponds at Salthouse on the North Norfolk Coast, the November light was nice and soft, and I like the composition of the silhouetted ducks in the foreground.” Kieron

The medium:

“The choice of which medium to use on a painting is such a fundamental decision and is often the difference between success and failure. My earliest steps into painting were taken with watercolours and initial works were in a dry brush technique as I tried to gain control over this temperamental medium.

The way I now work with watercolour has changed considerably as my confidence and understanding grew. After a few years I adopted the more popular process of laying down washes, carefully leaving the white of the paper behind to suggest the brightest highlights. I worked from light to dark and the painting would be built up with just two of three washes.

More recently my process has evolved yet again. I often lay in the darkest shapes of the painting first and then glaze over the top with transparent washes, sometimes adding up to ten layers, to achieve the richness of colour.

I have always loved the medium of watercolour, simplicity is at the heart of the medium and as soon as I ‘loosened the reins’ and let the medium control me, the happier I was with the results. Sometimes the best paintings are the result of a ‘happy accident’. “ Kieron