Recently we have regularly had four seasons in one day. Who knew we would still be seeing snow in April? I have enjoyed a busy winter working on a range of commissions, covering dogs, horses, houses and wild animals, to name some of the subject matter.

When my friend asked me to paint her friend’s beautiful self-build bungalow, surrounded by deep snow, I had quite a challenge on my hands.

If you have never tried watercolour painting, you may have assumed that when you want to paint something white you will just crack open a tube of white paint... you would be mistaken. If you want something to remain white, you don’t paint it.

I had a photograph to work from which on first glance was a sea of white, so I would not be painting a lot of it! In reality, what I would be painting were reflections and shadows which would suggest the presence of the snow underneath. It proved to be a real test of my observational skills.

I was quite pleased with the end result, as was my customer and the recipient of the gift, which is what really matters. As this was something that I hadn’t tackled before, it was one of those useful learning curve challenges which ultimately results in personal growth. I relish the next one.

The issues with white are true for any subject matter. Endless hours of work on a pet portrait could be wasted, if my hand slips or paint runs over the glint in the eye, which is a tiny speck of white on the paper.

That unpainted spot brings sparkle and life to the eye. Again, a case of DON’T PAINT THE WHITE! Some very fine brushwork skills are required. Unlike acrylic painting, you can’t really paint over mistakes in watercolour. Many artists find watercolour one of the most difficult mediums to work with because you can’t paint over mistakes or control the paint so easily.

That is however one of the joys of watercolour, particularly when painting skies, where I find it is better to work with what the paint and water do on the page rather than contrive clouds in a manmade fashion. Dabbing damp skies with a piece of kitchen roll lifts sufficient paint to create lovely, realistic, fluffy clouds.