As part of the every-other-day postings on Instagram (katysueo) I’ve been doing a series of Ugandan women and children. The photos used are from guy_in_uganda, also in Instagram (guy_in_uganda) who has kindly given his permission. The technique is the same as in previous posts using watercolour, overprinted with gouache. The images are not large so I keep the patterns on the fabric simple, where a lot of African fabrics are astonishly complex and rich in both pattern and colour, I’m aiming for an impression and trying to avoid overworking them. A lot of guy_in_uganda’s photos are black and white, which allows complete freedom in my choice of colours, I know that as an artist this is always the case but as a teacher I find students getting caught up in trying to be ‘accurate’, and a black and white image neatly bypasses that temptation while giving a road map on tone if you need it. I’ve used my usual and current favourites including cobalt teal, green gold,  perylene red and opera pink. Skin tones are mixed with burnt sienna and ultramarine blue, and small amounts of vandyke brown (handprint.com)

I have not yet got round to facial features in these images, when I’ve tried, whether because of my incompetence or the decorative nature of paintings, they look strange. Perhaps later…

50% of any proceeds from Uganda paintings goes to FOAG (more here)