Trifecta- Multitasking
One of the great things about doing this 30 day leaf challenge is that I have to stay on my toes and get the job done. As I have stated in previous posts, I am not the most organized person, but I am dedicated. I went on a walk with the Native Plant Society of Florida the other day and collected these leaves. They are from a Sassafras tree. The tree has 3 distinctive leaf shapes on the same tree. When I was a little girl my grandmother taught me about leaf identification. She said the way to know that the tree was a Sassafras was to look for "oval", "mitten" and "ghost" shape. I have always remembered this!
I wanted to do all three leaves at once so I set up an assembly line. I started by cutting 3 sheets of watercolor. I then drew the 3 leaves. I then mixed up my watercolors and tested them for color accuracy and then I did the left side of each leaf, one at a time. When I was on the third leaf, the first leaf was dry and I started to do the right side. Once all the lobes were painted I went in with the detail. Before I knew it all three were done in almost the same time it would have taken me to one. The reason for this is that there was no time wasted "waiting for the paint to dry". I do this in my full composition paintings. I jump around the painting so that I don't overwork one area. It seems to work well for me and I thought I would share this with you.
Do have a similar or different method that works for getting more done? Are you a multi-tasker? Please feel free to leave your comments. I enjoy hearing from you.
These leaves are available in my Etsy Shop: BugsBeastsBotanicals
A blow dryer is the watercolorist's secret weapon! 😉
Hi Wren,
I have tried working with a blow dryer but I find that I still get impatient and need to jump around on the paper…… maybe I should do jumping jacks in between as I blow dry my painting. How’s that for multitasking!
Love this tree, I would like to get it here in Italy to see directly.
When I do big work I do like you going around the work to let the part drying. But when I'm working just at one leaf, I can do some house work, just not to fall into temptation.. ….This is very italian but what can I say ? I 'm Italian!!! and like you……. must organize.
ciao my Mindy