Here are some highlights from the current class being offered so you have an idea of what we did this week. If you missed class, this may be helpful.

If you are visiting town and want to take one of the classes, contact the studio at (802) 457-2020 to join us for the three hour session.

Individual classes are $45 per class.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Participant Work from Week Three

Patricia Compton In Class Work	Jean Goodrich In Class Work

Week 4 Fall Foliage

Participant Work from Week Four

Fall Landscape by Jane Curtis

Fall Landscape by Nancy Judge

Fall Landscape by Trish Compton

Week 5

WATERCOLOR TECHNIQUES: COLOR TO THE EDGE
Fall 2011 Wednesdays 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

COURSE OBJECTIVE: To impart a personal love of drawing and watercolor and to explore a classic technique to enhance the student's own ability.  To introduce the properties of watercolor pigments which will enhance the artist's control and enjoyment of the medium. Our comments of your work in class serve as suggestions only. A rule of thumb to keep you out of the artist' doldrums: When judging your own or anyone else's work first, say something positive, second ask a question and third, make a suggestion.

September 28, 2011 INTRODUCTION AND SUPPLIES: FINDING YOUR EDGE
            After a brief introduction, we’ll partake in some collaborative paintings that will explore how we load the brush, how we apply the pigment and what we want from our work. We worked in teams to create shapes with color while the partner would add enough water to loosen an edge to allow color to flow into the wet area. We also practiced allowing color to mix with one another in a wet shape. Notice how the color will stop at the edge of the wet area and as one expands that edge, the shape can change. Tipping and tilting the paper is part of the painting process.
            We then explored some exercises to do on our own this week to practice some basic watercolor techniques. Using a series of wet-on-wet washes we created the illusion of a sky on a landscape. Once it was dry we added dry brush detals in a variety of values, building lighter values with darks. A materials list was reviewed and good options for getting your paints together was discussed.
HOMEWORK for next week 10/5/11: Each day, do one contour line drawing in your sketchbook or on a piece of copy paper. You will have six drawings using only line by the end of the week. Bring them to class and let’s look at how your drawings describe a subject in terms of volume and shape. Enjoy yourself and keep it very simple. No painting yet: these are simply drawings to get you in the habit of drawing each day.

October 5, 2011 WATERCOLOR TECHNIQUES: Exploring Line and Form
            Today we will explore two techniques: dry brush and wet on wet. Which come more naturally to you and which you would prefer to use? Notice in the exercise to the left, a dry brush loaded with color can create a bold dark line that will cover over anything underneath it. In the first exercise, we explore how a shape of color could be made with our brush and how once it was dry, color could be added around it in both wet-on-wet techniques or the outlines of drybrush. Depending on the dampness of the paper, a soft edge or hard edge can be emphasized.
If you are an experienced watercolorist and have a certain style, becoming facile in both helps increase your range in your current style.
HOMEWORK:  For 10/12/11: Continue to do one 10 minute drawing a day in your sketchbook. This week try to do six drawings of landscapes. The drawings we’ll be doing will be used in class this coming week. Using either or both of the techniques in class, draw and paint a still life of up to five objects from your kitchen including some fruits or vegetables with the variety of techniques found in class. Choose a maximum of two sets of primaries: 2 yellows, 2 blues and 2 reds. Consider especially where the background to the still life confronts the edges of the shapes.

October 12, 2011 CONTEMPLATING COLOR THROUGH SHAPES
            Establishing a palette and beginning to mix is a challenge for any painter, however in watercolor, paints can be mixed either on the palette and applied to the paper after being mixed, or colors can be mixed on the paper. The joy of watching the properties of pigments play with one another is one of the most enjoyable parts of the process of watercolor painting. In this first exercise, I created the third row of colors first! Nine primaries were added with their properties discussed at length. They are: Aureolin; Cadmium Red (sedimentary); Winsor Blue (staining); Rose Madder Genuine (liftable); French Ultramarine (sedimentary); Quinacridrone Gold (staining); Cobalt Blue (liftable); Cadmium Yellow (sedimentary) and Alizarin Crimson (staining). Not that in the row below, adjacent colors mix as dyads in each square. Above, there are dyads and triads mixing. Its exciting to see how sedimentary colors interact with stainings and so forth. The top three greys are mixed from three or four colors below.
           We then used drawings from our sketchbooks to create simplified shape compositions. This concept of mixing color within each shape helped us gain confidence in the edge of water as a boundary and the freedom within each shape we have for the interplay of pigments in beautiful and interesting ways.
            We worked with the properties of the paints: transparents, opaques and warm and cool primaries to advance and retreat shapes. Participants used the notes on these color squares that we created in class that can be kept for future reference. We will work on the technique of “Shape Painting” to practice pigment and water balance in a fixed “quilt” of shapes.
HOMEWORK: For 10/19/11: Using either a photograph or working from life, simplify a landscape into twelve design shapes. Using puddles of watercolor, allow the pigments to mix within the shapes to help you understand design and the significance of where the edges of color join. This beautiful image of the Andes mountains was painted by Jean Goodrich in this technique of shape painting.

October 19, 2011 LANDSCAPES: THE CHALLENGE OF AUTUMN COLORS
            Autumn in Vermont creates a bold challenge for the design and composition of the landscape given the warmth of many of the trees around us. Gone are the cool layers of green and in come reds, oranges and browns that can take over a composition unless the edges are especially considered. We’ll introduce some rarely used colors: Cadmium Orange, New Gamboge, and the earths and discuss the properties of these paints to “advance” or “retreat” subjects. We will work from photos and may go outside for some sketching if weather permits.

What a great "crop" of paintings we got this week from everyone! In the demonstration painting I showed how some of the techniques of shape painting, wet-on-wet and lifting could build up a nice illusion of space. When I shared the painting at this point, you could see how much white space takes over the composition.

Much of our discussion focused around how some basic theories of creating distance get challenged by the fall landscape. When one considers that "Darks tend to advance and lights tend to recede" or that "Warms tend to advance and cools tend to recede", using orange in the middle distance of a painting needs to be balanced dramatically with dark accents. Or, as Jane found out, adding a glaze of cool blue on the distant hills could help create the necessary warmth in the foreground to help advance the space for the viewer.

HOMEWORK: For 10/26/11: Using a larger sheet of watercolor paper than you are used to using, create a fall landscape that expresses the transition of the season. Use the subtlety of wet on wet and combine it with dry brush to emphasize or diminish the subjects you’re observing. Work from a photo or from life, whichever you prefer.

Out of these beautifully expressive paintings from the entire class, we found ourselves exploring the edges in different ways. Notice how Nancy used shape to create a mass of color and added dry brush on top for expressive accents? On the other hand, Trish approached her painting of the Pogue with a subtle palette preferring to use a warm outline on the foreground elements to help advance them over the pool of color. In the discussion, the edge created by the water meeting the mountain became an issue. Would the emphasis of that darker edge on the right side of the painting be best served by carrying it over to the left side as well, or is the subtle soft edge helping us understand the nature of reflection in water? Focusing on what we're leaving "soft" vs. "hard" becomes every painter's expressive challenge.

October 26, 2011 BROKEN COLOR: IMPRESSIONISM AND BRUSHWORK.
            Using Hot Press Paper, this week we’ll explore how your brushwork can actually sculpt form. While the technique appears to be abstract, very realistic subjects can be tackled. In class, we’ll work from a wide range of colors on the palette and discover how a drier brush and a Fritch Scrubber can work to great effect in this technique.

In our first exercise, this week, we created some random loops that interlocked to form at least seven shapes. By mixing reasonably thick paint, we started by putting yellow marks with white around them in at least three shapes. As we went down the palette from yellow to orange to red to violet and blue we discovered that putting colors next to one another unified a shape in a single color. In some places, we experiemented with allowing more white to stay present in a shape where we were also joining several colors together. Note the shape in the upper left of my scene? It appears to have "value" and "color" just because of the proximity or distance of my brush strokes.

We also noted the theory of "Saturated Colors tend to advance and desaturated colors (neutrals or grays) tend to recede. We added a neutral gray around the entire shape to help accentuate the strength of the white shapes in my composition. We also experimented with our line with our brush. Can the line help join areas through the edge? I noticed that when I varied the thickness of my line, I could create movement between the shapes. Notice when one squints at this abstract pattern, there appears to be a third dimension at work? Certain areas advance and retreat which to me is the miracle of painting! Two dimensions can become three.

We took a simple still life of an apple, lemon and a shell to produce a broken color painting. Following the growth pattern of your subjects helps describe the volume of the objects. This practice can be as scientific as that of the Pointalists like Seurat or as expressive as Van Gogh. Over the week, I hope you'll have some fun with this technique while you become more comfortable with the mark your brush can make if the pigment and water balance is controlled. See what you can do with this challenging technique.
HOMEWORK: For 11/2/11: Has your sketchbook become a habit? Continue drawing daily. Paint a still-life on hot press paper using the techniques explained in class. Notice that a “colored drawing” can be a successful form of painting and that your drawn line is often critical in the definition of a realistic subject. Bring an old photograph to class. If you do not have one, there will be some to use in class.

November 2, 1011 BLACK, WHITE and GRAYS: FINDING YOUR PERSONAL EDGE
             Contrast is often what creates depth. Yet mid-tones are sophisticated and rich in nuance. We will create subtle grays through mixing our colors. Grays are what punctuate the color in your work. We will also explore the drama of two colors to create grays. We will explore pen & ink today to see how drawing changes our relationship to the edge of form. Can line become and expression of mass or is it only useful to you as a boundary?
HOMEWORK:  For 11/9/11 Consider what a border will do for your work. Create an image that has a storyline or narrative running through a border. Allow yourself to look at illuminated manuscripts and other linear work and consider how the border or frame affects the edge of your work.

November 9, 2011 INVENTIVE COLOR THROUGH PORTRAITURE AND STILL LIFE
            We’ll explore how pure layered color with defined edges or soft passages create a subtle experience of the human face. Exercises in class will include working from the mirror we’ll experiment with painting and color to produce a loose, expressive approach to our work.
HOMEWORK: For 11/16/11 Create a portrait of yourself (including your actual face or not) through color. Be as realistic or as abstract as you wish. The point of this painting is to describe emotions through color. Show us how you feel in your painting.

November 16, 2011 OVER THE EDGE: HOW LINE AND FORM COMINGLE TO CREATE ART
            We will go over class work and have a brief critique of each person's process throughout the class. Then returning to the idea of using our brush to create a balance of line and form, we’ll explore the experience of combining a wet-on-wet base layer for soft, generous forms with the spontaneity and confidence of linear brushstrokes on top of the under painting. This is a classical painting technique that can be transferred to other mediums.
HOMEWORK:  Keep Painting and join us for another class!

Suggested Materials

PAINTS       • Winsor Newton, Sennelier or Daniel Smith colors. I suggest tube color in a white covered palette for easy transportation.
              • Some Cotman, Grumbacher or DaVinci colors are good too, but these are student grade paints and have inherently less pigment. To simplify, here are the basic colors I suggest for a basic palette. Please buy the best you can afford:

Transparents: Aureolin, Rose Madder Genuine and Cobalt Blue
Stainings: Alizarin Crimson, Winsor (Pthalo) Blue and Quinacridrone Gold
Sedimentary: French Ultramarine, Cadmium Red Light and Cadmium Yellow

Other key colors for a beginner are: Indigo, Winsor (Pthalo) Green and Sap Green

BRUSHES             • Either synthetic or real sables that point nicely in a size that relates to your work: i. e. small brushes for small paintings vs. large brushes for large paintings! I like a number 12 Cheap Joes' Dragon's Tongue for a "Best Buy"
                        • One  1" Flat wash brush in sable or synthetic
                        
PAPER                        • 5-8 sheets of Arches 140lb or 300 lb. cold press paper
                        • 2 sheets of Arches or Fabriano 140 lb. hot press paper

WATER BUCKETS: Tupperware—Large and Small: nothing too tall or too tippy, since we work in close quarters! Do have one for "clean water" and one for dirty—we have extras available at the studio for use here.

PAPER TOWEL: Bounty only: the others do not absorb. If you use the ones in the studio, please contribute to the cost in the "coffee fund"
PALETTE: I like the John Pike Palettes from Cheap Joe's
MASONITE OR 1/4" PLYWOOD OR PLEXIGLASS BOARDS: available for use in class but have your own for homework as well
ARTIST'S TAPE IN 1" size—this is a paper tape available at Cheap Joe’s or through Compton ART
SPONGES: natural sea sponges create interesting effects
SPRAY BOTTLES: get a clean one from the pharmacy. Most "soap" bottles will retain a residue you won't want on a watercolor!
RULER: available to use at the studio if needed
PENCILS : 2H to B, otherwise, they smudge
KNEADED ERASURE
SKETCHBOOK for daily drawing and to work out thumbnail sketches of compositions
Optional Items: CAMERA for reference photos