Skip navigation

Student Art: Beginning Watercolor Fall2019

 

The art, above, was created by my beginning watercolor students this session. I have chosen to post their paintings, here, rather than on a separate page. Only two of the six students showed up on the last night when I photograph their work.

This group learned about the three basic ways to paint in watercolor, practicing their wet in wet, wet on dry and dry brushing each week as they painted their assignments. They learned about basic color theory and how to create strong value contrasts. We always paint a back-lit painting in beginning watercolor just to practice darks and learn how to achieve a colorful dark. We studied techniques like using liquid mask, salt, crayon resist, magic eraser and how to splatter. We learned how to paint little people to place in our landscapes and we learned to crop and grid a painting.

Thank you to the two artists who allowed me to share their paintings here.

Student Art: 2019 Watercolor Landscape Class

Loren Bergren4

 

Karen Harvey6

 

Jennifer Hope5

 

Bill Lambert7

The above paintings are examples of what the artists in my Watercolor Landscape class created this year. They had to study landscape composition, value, division of space as it relates to landscapes. They learned several techniques to enhance texture, including splatter painting. They studied creating depth and painting little people and animals.

If you would like to view all of their paintings, click here. You can also access their gallery by scrolling to the top of the page and click on Student Art: Watercolor Landscape 2019.

Thank you to all the artists who submitted their work so others could view it.

Student Art: Advanced Watercolor Fall/Winter 2019

Jan Reche3

Judy Notestine

Sue Mendenhall5

The above paintings were created by artists who take part in the Advanced Watercolor class. These artists come together for 6 week sessions and paint together and critique each others art. I am there to mentor and help as needed. Most of these artists have painted together for ten years or more.

If you would like to view the rest of their paintings this session, please click here.

Student Art: Fall 2019, Session 1

Below are examples from three of my art classes that ended two weeks ago.

Eliza Simms5

Robert Piepenbrink4

The above 2 self portraits are examples of contour line drawingvalue and how to make different marks to create values.  done in my beginner drawing class.

The students learned to draw  continuous line drawings both blind and looking. They learned to draw in cross contours. They learned what negative space was and practiced drawing from negative space. They learned perspective and how to use their pencils to measure distance and find an angle, They studied value and how to make different marks to create their values and render contrast in their drawings.  They worked from life and from reference photos and learned to grid and translate a reference photos.

If you would like to view other examples of their work click here.

Carol Keller2

Tammy Enrietto4

The above two portraits were completed in my Watercolor Portrait class.

The students are allowed to paint any portrait they want for each week. This includes animals as well as people. They study how to grid a photo reference and transfer that grid in proper dimensions to their watercolor paper. They learn the basics of portrait composition and are presented with a guide to human facial feature proportions. They learn about the features such as eyes and noses and mouths. They learn how to make skin tones. We discuss style. We discuss ways to design a background.

If you would like to see more examples of the portrait class work click here.

Melissa Scare

Linda Flatley

The above paintings were completed in Advanced Watercolor. This is a mentored session. The student s are to work on three paintings of their own choice and complete them in the six week session. If they have questions, I am available to assist if I can. At the end of each weekly session, we take about 40 minutes to discuss and critique each others paintings. The artists in this class have completed my other watercolor classes and choose to work together to improve their skills.

If you would like to see other examples of their work, click here.

Thank you to all the artists who take my classes and allow me to photograph their work to post here.

Student Art: Spring 2019

Kari Zeplin6

Diane Winningham

Joe Isca4

Bill Lambert5

The above paintings are from our Exploring Watercolor class. These artists learn the basics about watercolor. They learn how to create colorful darks and value differences. They learn how to recognize differences in value and that it is always better to allow the water to help them create. Basic color combinations are discussed and practiced. They learn to use a sponge, masking fluid,  a magic eraser, salt, make a rubber band brush for grasses, and how to soften an edge with their brush. They practice skies and water and trees and buildings. They take watercolor magazines home with them, each week, so they can see all the different ways artists use watercolor. This is the class that starts it all. If .ou would like to see all of their incredible work, click here.

Mary Ann Berron3

Kathy Cron4

Masa Paper Painting

Laura Nellum

Ink and Watercolor Painting

Linda Gerbers3

Joyce Racine4

Rachel Peterson3

Gouache Resist

Jennifer Hope

Tammy Enrietto

Watercolor and Collage

The above paintings were completed in a class titled Watercolor Plus. It is probably the most creative as well as the most demanding watercolor class that I teach. I pretty much teach different techniques for the use of other media in watercolor. The artists select the things they want to try. I am so pleased with the results in this class that you must visit their gallery page by clicking here. These artists worked with masa paper, gesso and watercolor, gouache resist and watercolor, many different forms of waterproof black ink and watercolor, elegant writer, citrasolv collage and watercolor and rice paper and watercolor. High praise for the work you all did!!!!

Nancy Longmate

Sue Joseph6

Janet Heffley4

The above paintings were completed in the Advanced Watercolor Class. This class is designed to be a class where artists, who have completed all the other classes, may come and work together on paintings of their own choice. They must complete at least 3 paintings in the 6 week period. I am available as a mentor as well as them helping each other. They have a sharing time at the end of each class session. If you would like to see all of their work this period click here.

Henn Laidroo

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER BREAK!

Student Art: Winter 2019

Sue Sample4

Blind Continuous Line

Bill Lambert6

Negative Space

Scout DeFelice7

Perspective

Deborah Davis8

Value Study

The above Drawings were completed as assignments in our Beginning Drawing class this winter. We studied Blind continuous line, continuous line drawing contour line drawing, negative space, perspective, value, and how to grid a photograph. The students worked from real life as well as photos. If you would like to view all of their drawings in this class, please click here.

Kathy Cron4

Mary Ann Berron2

Joyce Racine6

Jennifer Hope 3

The above paintings were completed in this year’s composition class. They learned about where to place a center of interest. They learned how to use value and contrast shapes, lights and darks and textures and that no two things can be the same in order to create interest in their paintings. They studied 5 different ways to attract attention through their paintings. If you would like to view all paintings created in this class, please click here.

Melissa Scare

Sue Mendenhall3

Nancy Longmate4

Henn Laidroo2

Cindy Guzik3

The above 5 paintings are from the Advanced Watercolor session winter 2019. These artists work at their own pace and create 3 paintings of their choice in each 6 week session. They share and critique one another’s work  each week. If you would like to view all of their work click here.

Thank you to all the artists who share their work here.

Student Begin Exploring Watercolor : Fall 2018

Carole Smith5

James Toole

Joyce Racine2

Linda Gerbers

Loren Bergren2

Pat Bassett5

Sharon Smith4

The above paintings were completed by the students in the Exploring Watercolor Beginning class that just ended.

This is the most difficult class I offer because of the magnitude of information and skills that are covered in a short period of time.

Many of these paintings are painted with student grade paints because I don’t want anyone to invest in the artist grade until they decide they are going to continue painting.

We learned basic strokes such as wet in wet, wet on dry and dry brushing. We learned how to soften an edge and the difference between a soft and hard edge. We studied value and how to create a dark by mixing several dark colors together. We learned the difference between opaque and transparent and made a chart of our own colors in order to determine the ones that were more opaque. We learned how to use salt, a sponge, masking fluid, splatter and how to make a rubber band brush for grasses and texture. We learned to grid and measure a format so the grid will work on the surface of our paper. We painted trees, skies or water, and little people. We spent one night discussing color and learning the color combinations that work well for artists.

If you would like to see all of their paintings click here. Thank you to all the students who shared their work here.

Student Art: Watercolor Landscape and Adv. Watercolor, 2nd Session

Sheila Boneham3

Tammy Enrietto4

Laura Nellum2

Rachel Peterson

Posted above, are four paintings from the 2018 session of watercolor landscape. We studied creating a center of interest, use of value and division of space, color, using masking fluid, techniques for clouds, skies, water and trees. We discussed buildings and learned technique for painting “little people in our landscapes. If you would like to view the gallery of all 27 landscape paintings please click here.

Jan Reche2

John Kelty2

Robert Einhaus

Ruth Karau

Linda Flatley2

The above paintings were created by artists in the 2nd session of adv. watercolor this fall. This is a group of artists who have completed all the other classes and still want to come together to learn from one another.  They are to create 3 paintings each six week session and they share and critique their work at the end of every meeting. I serve as a mentor or helper. If you would like to see the entire gallery of their work, this session, please click here.

Thank you to all of the artists who shared their work here.

New Student Art Fall 2018

Three art classes ended this past week.  I thank all of my students who have agreed to share their art on this post and within the gallery pages listed above. I am very lucky to be able to witness the growth and creativity in all of these artists.

Henn Laidroo

Cindy Guzik

Nancy Longmate

The above three paintings are from the Advanced Watercolor Class. This class is for the students who have completed the other classes I teach. They come together on Monday nights and work on paintings of their own choice. They have more time and freedom to explore techniques I have taught or research on their own and try something new. There is always a critique at the end of each class and the students share new ideas with one another. To view the Advanced Watercolor Student Gallery click Here.

Dionne Carter2

Jennifer Hope

Mary Anne Berron

This grouping of paintings are from the Watercolor Portrait class. They could work on people, animals and / or figures. They studied portrait composition, value, skin tone, measurement and features. To view the Student Portrait Gallery click Here.

James Toole
Blind Continuous Line

Joseph Quinlisk2
Study in Perspective

Elaine Lehman4
Value Study

The above drawings are from the Beginning Drawing class. They work so hard. They learn how to turn their left brains off and draw in blind continuous line and feel their way around and over a form. They learn the elements of perspective and how to make various marks for value. They practice drawing from life and from photos. They learn to grid and to draw themselves and each other. They also work on several still life arrangements. If you would like to view the Beginning Drawing Student Gallery click Here.

Night Scene

I ran across a night scene in a photograph from wet canvas that caused me to pause. I had only attempted a couple other night scenes since I began painting and decided to give the above a try. How to do the red dark and still get the sign in the foreground to appear as though it is green in sunlight?  I think learning to make rich dark washes is one of the most difficult skills to learn.

Prior to adding any color to the drawing of the above scene, I went in search of a reference to use for the guy walking past. He is actually from a beach scene photo I have. I put a hoodie and jeans on him and had him carry a small bag instead of a picnic basket and added him to the scene. I used liquid friskit to save his image and  the lettering and neon lighting on building and parking sign.

My first wash of color was aureolin and I applied it in a watered-down wash over the entire scene. I allowed that to dry. On a scrap piece of watercolor paper, I worked some oranges, reds and then greens to experiment with different combinations and values until I got a feel for the colors. I used no browns in this piece other than what was created from the greens and oranges and reds. I like the deep dark colors I was getting from hookers green and fire engine red.  In the deepest dark areas, I would add alizarin crimson with those two colors.  I slowly added washes of orange and red and worked wet-in-wet as I approached the darker areas.  Some areas just had the yellow and orange washes and others, as I moved outward, had the green added to the wash. I was very careful with the amount of water I used as I did this. I did not want the paper to become over saturated.

I painted the municipal Parking sign with green, then red, then green again so it looked a little more green than the other washes.

I waited for all the above to dry. I had to go back in to the deepest dark areas and lay in deeper dark colors and softening edges where the dark colors met the lighter areas. I allowed that to dry. I then took a damp brush and smeared some of the colors from the dark areas over the double windows on the upper left so they did not appear to be in bright light from the Hotel sign.

After all of that dried, I removed the liquid friskit (masking fluid) and painted the areas that required colors, using a small brush. I smeared the dark color of the green sign over the lettering and lighter rectangle beneath that sign so they appeared darker. There were some blues in the neon around the windows and I used that color in the man’s jeans to subtly draw the viewer’s eye to him.

This was a fun painting.

Below are the other night paintings I have tried.

 

Thank you to wet canvas for the reference photos for the above paintings.