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I have 111 books in my studio (yes, I counted them) that are Tutorials,  and I acquired them slowly over about 10 years.  I find that I no longer go to them for inspiration, and decided to get rid of them.  Before I do that, however, I’m going to TRY to do ONE PAGE out of each book.  Wish me luck……

7 Books Down, 104 to go….

Book:  Glorious Garden Flowers in Watercolor, by Susan Harrison-Tustain

Page 86 –  Meticulously and slowly lay down very thin washes of color.

This woman does floral paintings that are darn close to photo-realism.  Apparently, when I bought this book (years ago) I thought I’d do that as well.  Then I realized the “slowly and meticulously” part……. gahhhhhhh

I chose what looked like the easiest exercise in the book – a European Butterfly.  This took me AT LEAST 1.5 hours.  So much effort, and I don’t even really like the outcome.  Again, not the fault of the author, just not something that is part of my creative vocabulary.