The Process of Watercolor Painting An English Cottage

It was a dream come true to stand with my students in front of this cottage and attempt to do a small painting of it. A wonderful unplanned event took place while we painted. A lovely English woman came out of the neighboring cottage, chatted with us, then invited us inside her home so we could experience an authentic English home.Here is the my watercolor painting done on the spot.

Here is the first painting I've done of this cottage since I have been home. It will be the first of my many attempts as I try to figure out how to paint the best cottage I can. I will be trying to simplfy the composition using the photos I took, and find the correct paint colors and arrangement of lights and darks.

I just thought I would mention here that I sometimes paint a picture many times until I get it "right". Perfect paintings don't pour out of my studio ever! I just keep trying until I achieve a painting that is as good as possible for me right now.