In Praise of Precision
It’s nearly mushroom season here in New York, the only time of year that I’m rooting for humidity and rain. I typically work fast to keep up with sketching the variety of mushrooms under our grove of oaks, but for now, I’m taking my time. There’s so much subtlety and beauty in the simple form of a mushroom. It’s a pleasure to look closely and capture it on paper.
Tips and Techniques— I did this painting as a demo for my online Mushroom Explosion in Watercolor class using a photo I took last fall. A light-colored or white mushroom offers a great lesson in observation, capturing subtle colors, glazing, doing graded washes in small spaces, and precision. These are foundational skills that are perfect to practice with mushrooms, but that also translate to many other nature subjects. Take your time when you can. Choose simple forms and master them and then move on to more complex subjects. The time you spend learning to look and be precise will serve you well.
Drawn In 
Beautiful work. I agree with your advice, mushrooms are a great subject for practicing watercolor technique.
Thanks Laura Kate. I love the subtle color shifts and simple shapes.
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Lovely
Thanks Sherry.
Beautiful painting.
Thank you!
Your mushroom paintings look so real, alive! Beautiful work Jean.
Thanks Barb! We’re doing quick mushrooms this week, so it’s a real contrast. I like doing them both ways.
Oh how fun! I’ll look forward to comparing both techniques!