Hello and welcome to the second last issue of this pop-up newsletter, The Half Month Project1. The Half Month Project is a 15 days challenge for me to kickstart learning watercolour painting. Your regular HopeMail will resume on June 3, 2022.

I missed a few days of my 15 days challenge.

Two reasons: 1) I went up to the hills 2 again, to spend extended time with my family.

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A post shared by Melinda Yeoh (@melinda_yeoh)

My original plan of integrating the trip with my learning watercolour challenge was highly doable. What with the gorgeous landscape beckoning me to draw and paint them. But…enter reason number 2) There was an unexpected urgent and major situation to manage.

I decided to use my bandwidth on settling the situation and being present (physically and mentally) with my family. That was all I can manage and wanted to manage. So—I chose to delay a few days of the learning watercolour challenge. And made peace with that.

I’m now back, happily tapping away on my keyboard, writing this to you.

GIF: a lady with a ponytail, wearing a pink turtleneck top, and grey pants, smiling happily while typing away on her laptop. Even the coffee mug on her table has a smiley face. The word “tappity” pops up from her keyboard. — My head is screwed back into my soul.

Week 3 notes

Wowed by generosity.

Stanley, a friend of mine, who’s also a HopeMail reader and one of HopeMail’s first seven paid members3 contacted me recently. He said, "I think using a waterbrush4 is convenient, but may not be helpful (if you want to learn watercolour) in the long term.”

He gifted me with these.

Image: 12 watercolour brushes in different sizes and types. — 12 almost brand-new, professional-grade [expensive] watercolour brushes in different sizes and types.

“I think you’ll put these to better use than me. I hardly use them”, he said.

“My friend, how could I accept this?”, I exclaimed.

He explained, “I invest in quality materials and resources for studying the textures and colours of different mediums to enhance my photography skills (such as colour accuracy and intentional colour grading). To learn painting, I do likewise. After the research, I give the materials away to support high-potential artists. I think you are part of them.”

This act of generosity makes me wanna be even more generous with others. And inspired me to take watercolour painting more seriously—doesn’t matter if it’s the traditional watercolour painting route or watercolour sketching. Or both!

I’m so excited thinking about the possibilities! What can I paint? What stories can I tell with my art?

🤓 Geek out

Tools: watercolour brushes

It’ll be some time till I know how to properly use half of these brushes! But, I’ve web-searched to find out what they can do.

image: some watercolour paper with brushstrokes, a set of watercolour brushes on the left, and a 14 colours watercolour paint set on the right

Here’s a video of my experiment with four of the watercolour brushes.

A reality check note:

When starting to learn something new, too many choices and information can be overwhelming. The message from the beginner’s watercolour class with Kateri Ewing, and the other watercolour for beginners articles is this: keep it simple. 🤔 Actually, this applies to life too.

Too many choices and information lead to an overwhelmed life. Keep it simple.

To me, as a beginner, starting with just one to two watercolour brushes will do. If you can only choose one, choose the round brush (size 8 is good). The second one you can consider is the flat brush if you do a lot of bigger size washes. If you want to add another one, maybe a round brush, smaller than size 8.

What about watercolour?
The same goes for watercolour, six to a maximum of 14 colours is good. I got a put-together kit of 14 colours from Holbein.

image: a set of 14 half-pan watercolour paint set in an enamel travel-sized case from Holbein, a reputable watercolour manufacturer. — Looks yummy enough to eat right? Please practise self-restraint.

For my next phase of learning, I’m choosing these three watercolour brushes:

1/2” Rosemary & Co sable blend 772 (dagger)5
Rosemary & Co travel brush
1” Silver Black Velvet 3014S wide wash brush

When I get more comfortable and skilful with the above three brushes, I will (ad)venture into using the other brushes in my cool-looking army green watercolour pouch! Looking forward to what comes up next with these colours and brushes.

Thank you for reading. Feel free to leave a comment. See you next week for the final issue of The Half Month Project!

🎨 Melinda

Buy ☕️ (Did you notice I’ve removed the paintbrush emoji? ☺️)

1

The Half Month Project is a 15 days challenge for me to kickstart learning watercolour painting.
I want to document the experience. And I want to share a weekly summary with you.
Once a week, I’ll send photos/videos, along with some words. You can always respond with questions, comments or even by sharing your very own The Half Month Project.
Your regular HopeMail will resume on June 3, 2022.

2

Occasionally, I like to go up to the hills for a respite from the tropical heat, and city noises. I wrote about my experience here. There’s also a recording of the soothing sounds from the virgin forest.

3

The seven people in this drawing below are the pioneer members of my paid subscription. Some might say, seven is not a big number. But what these people did is big in my heart! I wrote a post about it, ‘Yes, please sweat the small stuff”.

line drawing of seven people, five men, two women.

4

image: a waterbrush with its cap off. — This is a waterbrush

5

Urban sketcher, Liz Steel wrote about the Rosemary & Co Series 772. Sable Blend Daggers here.

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