Japanese Shrines, in watercolour

A new project, stemming, I guess, from the ongoing lockdown, is to learn how to paint with watercolours, using my travel photos as inspiration. 

It's also perhaps a response to my having tried to fake the look of 'real' watercolours using a range of software apps for the last 20 or so years...

I realise that hadn't painted anything, other than house interiors, for more than 40 years, so I was not surprised to find my technique woefully rusty! Nevertheless I'm finding the process a lot more fun than photography at the moment...

One point that you definitely miss when trying to fake the look of watercolours with electron manipulation is an appreciation of the process itself. Typically you just choose a paint style, click OK and let the algorithm do the work.

But the 'process' is not just the technique of picking the subject - it's also to do with selecting the best type of paper to use (heavy, lightweight, smooth or rough), the paints themselves, plus the skills needed to work on a scene that inevitably requires a light touch, a steady hand, and the ability to pre-visualise the end result.

My original image snapped at the main gateway to Heian Shrine, Kyoto

Software designed to emulate the 'look' of real paint can produce something reasonably authentic, although it must be said that unless you are prepared to print the resulting file onto media such as quality (inkjet) watercolour paper, you are going to forgo an important part of the process - the tactile nature of the painted surface.  

A few of my better pictures, converted into 'painted art' using software plug-ins, produced passable illustrations once printed onto quality inkjet art papers. 

But of course, in the digital environment, you are still 'creating' using a mouse, and that's a world away from trying to make something pretty using hand-made paper and squirrel fur wrapped round a stick.

Watercolour effect #1
Made using Photoshop Elements' Watercolour filter (unedited).
A bit heavy in the shadows and not really looking very convincing. 

Watercolour FX #2 - JixiPix Aquarella software.
The problem with JixiPix is it has far too many options! Its results are good, but they often need a slight 'tweak' in Photoshop (Elements) once completed to bring the contrast and colour back to a more realistic rendition. 

Heian Shrine
Watercolour effect cunningly created using watercolour paints.
This was my second attempt at painting these magnificent gates from the original photo. I was moderately happy with the result, although my next attempt might be even better. 

I often create multiple versions of the same subject - just so I can try to improve on the previous (often smudgy or ham-fisted) versions. Sometimes trying again does improve the result. Sometimes I just seem to create a new set of mistakes. 

Kasuga Shrine, Nara

What digital technology does well is provide consistency. I'm certainly not an accomplished watercolourist - I need a lot more practice and, to that end, if I'm not pleased with my latest picture, I often try it again and again till a new version shows some level of improvement.

With digital you can so easily reproduce the initial efforts multiple times, seamlessly - then add or edit bits in and out of the original to make those necessary 'improvements'.

Zozoji Shrine, Minato, Tokyo
I wonder what Vincent might have thought of Photoshop?