Here are some highlights from the current classes being offered so you have an idea of what we did this week in class. 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.

Here's an example by workshop participant, Patricia Compton. Note the wet-on-wet technique that established the shape by limiting the water to the edge of the form. The leaves were painted from life, leaves collected outside the studio on the second week.

This is a still life painted by Deborah Rice after the week on Brush Techniques. Notice how she uses "broken color" to provide the texture of the avocado? Her observation of light on glass is accomplished with a masterful use of wet-on-wet technique. The composition is enhanced by the red/green complement. Great painting over all!

Suzie's Chickens, watercolor by Annette Compton

Chickens in a barnyard produce a wonderful subject for Luminous Grays and even White Glows and Dramatic Darks. In these two weeks, we examined grays and blacks: how primary colors mixed together produce neutral mixtures that allow us to get more interesting realism. The use of spatter and gestural brush work created the freshness in this scene.

Demonstration of Greens, by Annette Compton

Here is the overview of mixing greens from our December 1 class. Notice the first mixtures in the upper left are yellows and blues from the basic palette? Once we add Sap Green and Winsor Green, we have a wider range of intensity or saturation in the greens. Sometimes these are acutally less natural than the mixtures. The complement of RED needs to be added to tone down the intensity resulting in the final six colors you see in the lower left.

Demonstration painting by Annette Compton From our December 8, class, this is a watercolor painting of Arnold Sulzberger, Jr., the owner of the New York Times, painted in about an hour's time using some of the color mixing techiniques for reds and skin tones we used in class.

Trudi Amber Dowling
Portrait #1

Trudi's first attempt at painting a portrait was hugely successful because of careful mixing of reds using a primary triad to tone it down into the warm and cool shadows. She also used value to produce the feeling of clear light on her subject.

Find out what the other 2010 Fall Classes are doing...

Or review 2010 Spring Classes here!

INTRODUCING WATERCOLOR: A PARTNERSHIP IN LINE AND FORM
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM starting Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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. 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.

October 20, 2010 INTRODUCTION AND SUPPLIES: FINDING THE LINE

We will discuss the kinds of paper we will use, talk about paints and palettes and of course, brushes. We will begin by experimenting with how paint and water flow on the paper through tipping and tilting. There will be time to put together a joint order from the class that we will have for next week.

HOMEWORK: Do one line drawing in your sketchbook on a piece of copy paper each day this week. 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.

October 27, 2010 SETTING UP YOUR PALETTE: OBSERVING THE FORM

Establishing a palette and beginning to mix. We will work with the properties of the paints: transparents, opaques and warm and cool primaries. You will take notes on some color wheels that we will create in class that you may want to keep for future reference. We will work on the technique of “Shape Painting” to practice pigment and water balance.

HOMEWORK: Paint three small painting of fruit and vegetables using only your brush and paint on paper. Try to create the shape in water first and fill in color as it dries. Keep the forms very simple and the backgrounds loose and washy. Avoid starting with a pencil line to deliberately get you to look for the form, value and color of the objects.

November 3, 2010 BRUSH TECHNIQUES: Combining Line and Form

Today we will explore a variety of techniques: broken color, dry brush, stippling, sponging, lifting and a variety of other techniques. Which come naturally to you, which you would prefer to use? If you are an experienced watercolorist and have a certain style, use some of these new techniques to break away from your standard style.


HOMEWORK: 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. Ask what is more important to you in this painting: line or form?

November 10, 2010 WHITE GLOWS and DRAMATIC DARKS: Defining the Edge, softening the volume

Through learning and producing an effective value scale, this is what creates volume or form in your work. Lights and Darks are achieved by varying the water/pigment ratio and is a key to successful watercolors. We will do exercises to demonstrate how to create tints and shades. Working from simple still lifes of cubic forms, we will study how light affects objects and how to reproduce it working in one color.

HOMEWORK: Find a photo of a predominantly white subject or choose a white object on a middle value or dark background. Consider the “edge” quality of the subject. Keep your palette down to four colors. Save the paper for the white shape and build up the other values from light to dark.

November 17, 2010 LUMINOUS GRAYS

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. Landscapes are a great place to find linear definition and the softness of blended forms. Consider how line and form work to create a dynamic composition.

HOMEWORK: (week off for Thanksgiving) Complete the painting from the photo begun in class. If you have time, paint a winter landscape through a window on a cloudy day or from a photo, thinking about the use of grays to accentuate color in your composition. You might do a "warm-up" value study in one color to help you understand the pigment/water ratio.

December 1, 2010 LANDSCAPES: THE CHALLENGE OF GREENS

We’ll explore wet-on-wet mixing for this class. Working from photographs we will tackle the challenges of life-like greens. We will add two new colors to our palettes this week: Winsor Green and Sap Green. Mixing green can pose a problem unless we are willing to use what we know about warm/cool relationships, or light/dark contrast. Read pages 124-135 in "The Watercolor Book" by David Dewey, if you have it.
HOMEWORK: Do one still-life involving at least one natural green and one inorganic green (eg. A houseplant and a bright green bottle or a vase of flowers on a bright green silk cloth) using some of the clues about mixing greens. Or work from a photograph of a landscape with the primary color as green.

December 8, 2010 PORTRAITURE

We’ll explore how a mixture of defined edges and soft edges create a subtle experience of the human face. Working from the mirror or a photograph we’ll experiment with drawing and color to produce a loose, expressive approach to our work.

HOMEWORK: Ask a friend or family member sit for their watercolor portrait. Keep it simple and light the person dramatically so you can see the lights and darks clearly.

December 15, 2010 THE PARTNERSHIP OF LINE AND FORM

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: Consider your schedule for another painting class this winter

Materials List      

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 beginning palette. Please buy the best you  can afford.:

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

Other key colors for a beginner are: Indigo, Winsor (thalo) 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 cold press paper available at the studio $5 per full sheet, $2 per 1/4/ sheet.

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 in the studio for use here but get one for your own use
ARTIST'S TAPE IN 1" size—this is a paper tape available at Cheap Joe’s
SPONGES
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 to work out thumbnail sketches of compositions
           
Optional Items
            CAMERA for reference photos