HOW DO YOU HONOR THE CHANGE IN SEASON?

Yeah! Autumn is here!

The autumnal equinox sets me on a quest for new art classes and to renew my efforts to finish projects set aside during the last days of summer. I look through my binders and portfolios to refresh my memory of what I have learned and to see what progress I have made. In the spring I had felt stuck, not seeing the improvement I wanted. I knew that I'd reached a plateau in advance of what I hoped would be a jump to a new skill level. Tomorrow my waterclass begins again, and I plan to take with me some of the breakthroughs I experienced this summer.

My painting done in Leslie Wilson's class

I've been taking a class for a couple of years from Leslie Wilson, who considers Charles Reid, a well-known artist, as her mentor. Leslie paints in a style called direct painting, which is different from the usual layering of most watercolorists. She starts at the point of interestas I did with the stripes on the pumpkin in the painting here. I find this style a challenge, but I've learned a lot trying to find my comfort zone.

My unifinished painting of my great-grandfather, Ferdinand Belfi, from Ted Nuttalls' class

This summer I took a workshop from Ted Nuttall, a portrait painter who also considers Charles Reid a mentor. Ted's style is completely different from Leslie's, even though they both learned from Reid.

First, they have chosen different color palettes:

Ted Nuttall's and Leslie Wilson's different palettes

Second, they use different watercolor paper. Leslie swears by Fabiano 140 Rough, while Ted only uses Arches 300 Cold Press, a very smooth paper.

Their technique for picking up color on their brushes is different. Leslie dips her brush into clean water, wipes off the excess, then goes for the color. She may or may not mix another color together on her palette before she paints about an inch of color.  She returns to her palette to add another color to the original choice. She uses washes only to lay in the sky or large areas of water, which she puts down after she has finished the point of interest of the painting.

Ted uses layers of washes. He will start with a puddle of water on his palette, reach for a color and mix the two together. He will then put a sweeping wash over an area of paper, leaving only places where he wants the white paper to shine through. He lets the layer dry before he adds another layer.

While trying to learn watercolor techniques, I've taken classes from Birgit O'Connor, Gloria Miller Allen, Robert Dvorak, and Sondra Holtzman. Each of them taught me different techniques and color palettes. Sondra Holtzman's choices include a natural palette made by Daniel Smith from minerals such as amethyst, hematite, and garnet. Mixing colors from this palette create some beautiful greys.

I worked with large swatches of color in O'Connor's class, and layers of paint in Allen. Dvorak taught me quick sketchbook studies.

My painting done during Birgit O'Connor's class

With all the classes I've taken, I want to incorporate new techniques into my work, but I also want to find my own watercolor style. This summer I felt that I am coming closer. First, there are certain images I like to work with such as faces, small objects such as fruit, old barns, trees, windows and doorways. There are colors I like to incorporate into my color palette such as Indigo, Hansa Yellow, Amethyst, and Permanent Red Deep that help me reach the deepest darks and the best shades of green and grey. All the techniques and color choices I've found have been a boon to help me improve. I have one direction I need to remember each time I make a brushstroke:

 step away and slow down.

Check out these watercolor instructors and take a workshop:
Leslie Wilson  http://www.lesliewilson.net
Ted Nuttall  http://www.tednuttall.com
Birgit O'Connor  https://www.birgitoconnor.com
Gloria Miller Allen  http://www.gloriamillerallen.com
Robert Dvorak  https://www.youcreate.com/HOME-YOUCREATE.COM.html