My encounter with watercolour in the 70s...

I did nothing much with watercolour in the 70s and 80s except for the two incidents that I remember till today. Once in the school, I was told to participate in a painting exhibition cum competition. I, with the help of my mother, painted  a rural scene and submitted it to my class teacher. I did not know whether it was accepted or not. Next, my mother insisted on participating in an art competition which was held in the city stadium. I participated very reluctantly and impromptu. When the session began, I did not know what to paint and started to draw what was in front of me - the stadium itself. With no formal training or knowledge in painting, I failed to draw the stadium too and I refrained from submitting an incomplete painting. Later, at the end of the competition, the paintings of other participants were on display. I was starring at them;  my eyes grew big and jaws gaped to see them. Some of the participants which were of my age or even younger had so much of talent! I almost stopped painting after that.

My first encounter with watercolour...

When I was eight years old my parents gifted me with a watercolour tin box. This was like this:

It also had a small brush. I loved watercolour paintings but did not know how to paint. So all I did was to fill the black and white pictures, especially those found in the comic books with the colours. I had gone to the art teacher for only a day. He placed a wooden toy railway engine and made me to draw and paint it. I could not draw the engine properly. He politely asked me to come back when I grew older. LoL. 

My new watercolour tubes...

Yesterday I received the Senellier watercolour  tubes I ordered with Artifolk. It took 12 days by registered air mail to receive them. I am yet to try them. One thing that I learnt from what it is written on the body of the tubes is that Lemon Yellow and Cobalt Blue are transparent. Generally metallic pigments are supposed to be opaque. Here is the photograph of what I got: Cobalt Blue, Viridian Green, Indian Yellow, Indigo, Cobalt Violet, Lemon Yellow and Indanthrene Blue.

You may click here to view Sennelier-Watercolor Chart