Magnolia Workshop

I am teaching a Magnolia Workshop on Saturday June 18th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Artistic Creations Gallery and Classroom.

The first picture shows some of the first steps to painting a magnolia. The first thing I did after drawing the outline was to lay a very light cobalt blue wash over my paper. Then after it dried I layed a light aureolin yellow wash over the background. I call these initial washes underlying washes. I often start a painting withe them. I feel as if they tie the painting together right from the beginning. Then I started painting the petals with very light mixes of cobalt blue, opera rose and aureolin yellow. I then layed thin washes of quinacridone gold and opera rose in the center of the flower.

In the second picture I painted the branches wet on wet. I first layed down quinacridone gold and dropped in a mixture of burnt sienna and cobalt blue on the sides of the branches. I then mixed up my greens using: aureolin yellow, antwerp blue, hookers green, and a little bit of cadmium red. When I mix my colors on my pallette I do not mix them evenly. Instead I leave certain colors in certain spaces and only mix them a little with the other color or colors next to it. I then paint the leaves with this mixture of greens. I finally paint over the center of the flower with a little darker quinacridone gold and underneath that I stipple in some alizron crimson with a litle bit of cobalt blue on the outrsides of it. I then wet the deep part if the petals and allow the crimson color to bleed out.

I paint over the leaves with a thin layer of quinacridone gold. Then on to the most fun part of the whole painting (at least in my opinion.) The background. I first lay in a wash of sap green and quinacridone gold. Then I let it totally dry. I them mix up some hookers green with winsor violet. I then section by section paint the background and lift with a thirsty brush some of the paint to create some texture.

I finish the painting with permanent white guoache mixed with some quinacridone gold in the center of the flower. I then add a little alizron crimson to the little stamens on the petals.

There are still a few spots left for the workshop on Saturday. If you are interested please email me at katsart01@yahoo.com.


Also on Friday evening at Artistic Creations Gallery and Classroom there will be an Grand Opening from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm. If you have the chance stop by and meet the artists and view their work.

Teaching

Here's some pictures of me teaching that one of my students took yesterday. I teach watercolors on Thursday and Saturday mornings from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at Artistic Creations Art Gallery and Classroom. They just moved to a new location in Pembroke Mall in the hall going to the food court. They are having their Grand Re-Opening on Friday 6/17th from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. If your in the neighborhood stop on by and see the new space and all the wonderful art. I have a wall with my paintings there too and I demonstrate painting on Fridays from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

I have been spending a good deal of time planning my summer classes and workshops. The first workshop that I am teaching is next Saturday June 18th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Artistic Creations Classroom. I'm teaching painting a Magnolia in watercolor. I will demonstrate it step by step and take my students from the beginning to the end of the painting process. I will also introduce some of my "ways" of painting and explain why I do things the way I do them. I have painted so many Magnolias in the last couple weeks that I feel like I could paint them in my sleep. (I'm sure that I'm exaggerating just a little bit.) On Wednesday I will post some pictures of the Magnolia as well as some of the steps to painting it. If you are interested in taking the workshop there are still some spots open. Just contact me at katsart01@yahoo.com or 757 650-5765.

I want to give special thanks to Cherrie for bringing in the camera so that you could see me in action and to Laurie and Joyce for allowing their photos to be taken.

Mixed Media - Watercolor Crayons

This is a demo I did for my Mixed Media class. In it I show samples of different ways that you can mix watercolor crayons with watercolor. If you double click on it you can appreciate the different ways of using the watercolor crayons.

The first thing I did was sketch out the brick pattern and put in red earth colors in watercolors. The first line of bricks shows how you can use the watercolor crayons as if they were watercolors. First you scribble some of the crayons on a piece of scratch paper. Then you apply a damp brush to it and loosen up the crayon. It turns to a "watercolory" substance that you can now paint with. I then painted the bricks with a wet on wet wash.

In the second row of bricks I used the crayon like a crayon and drew over the brick. Then I used the damp brush to moisten the crayon and it melted into the brick.

The third row of bricks I used crayon sharpenings on scratch paper and wet them with the damp brush. I then got a little clumpier watercolor mixture than I did in the first row and I painted the bricks with it.

In the forth row I wet the bricks with some water and drew with the crayon into the wet brick. The crayon melted onto the paper as long as the paper stayed wet.

Then in the fifth row I dipped the crayon into water and then drew with it. The watercolor crayon just flowed over the paper and let go of it's color.

Finally I painted the grout in between the bricks. (Is it called grout or something else?) I did this in a different way than I did any of the bricks.

Can you guess what I did? If you are one of the first two people (with an address in the continental United States) that sends in a correct answer then you win an 8 X 10 print of one of my paintings. You need to send your answers to the little CONTEST in a COMMENT.

I hope you enjoy these little "classes" on mixed media and watercolor and I hope you get the chance to try some of them.

Good luck with the contest!

Mixed Media - Graphite

Last evening was the first meeting of my Mixed Media class. In this class we will explore mixing other media with watercolor painting. I teach it at the Kempsville Recreation Center. I always like to do a different class in the summer. Last year I taught Watercolor pencils and it was a great deal of fun. I tell my students that they need to have fun while painting or else why do it?

Last night's class was on mixing graphite with watercolor. Most watercolorists use some pencil in their paintings. I use it to provide an outline of the subject to follow with my painting. But some artists do more of a drawing on their paintings than just an outline. You can see and appreciate the graphite drawing under the painting.

Often beginners do more drawing than is typically used in watercolors. I always let them know that it is a choice how much of the drawing they want to put in the painting. This is one of my philosophies about teaching. I always try and encourage individuality in my students. I let them know what the options are and how they project themselves into the painting as well as the pros and cons. Then I let them know that they can explore their options and see how they like doing the task at hand. This way students learn to express themselves in their painting.

I usually do a demo of what I am presenting in class. The first picture shows my pencil "line" drawing. I did my drawing before I painted with watercolors. You do not want to do alot of blending of your pencil drawing because when you add your watercolor it will smear. Also you need to do a drawing not just an outline.

Next I added my watercolor. For this demo I used hot pressed paper. It has a very smooth surface and allows smooth work. It dries very fast as the paint does not get absorbed by the paper but sits on the surface. It also is prone to many blossoms as the paint can move around more.

This combination of media is good when you want to show lines and or details in your painting. It has a great deal of control for those people that like to control their watercolors. It combines your skills in drawing with your skills in watercolors. Try it you might like it.

Next week we are doing pen and ink. I hope you enjoyed this post. Please send me comments on what you would like to see more of.

Masa Paper

I really love to try new things in my art work. This is one of the things I love about watercolor. There are endless possibilities.

The Magnolias IV was done on Masa paper. I was first introduced to this paper a couple months ago and I have been experimenting with it ever since. It has been alot of fun.

Masa paper is similar to Rice paper. (I only know this from being told as I have never tried Rice paper. At least not yet.) The procedure for using it is as follows:
1. First you cut the Masa paper to the size of a regular piece of watercolor paper. You do not need to use good watercolor paper. Then you mark the smooth surface of the Masa paper in the corner with a pencil.
2. You crumple up the Masa paper and soak it in water.
3. In the meantime you wet the watercolor paper and spread Elmers type glue on it. (You can even use school glue.)
4. You carefully take the Masa paper out of the water and squeeze it very gently. If you squeeze it too much you will destroy the quality of the paper.
5. You then place the Masa paper on the watercolor paper with the pencil mark down and roll it with a brayer from the center out.
6. You can begin laying colors down in a very loose way at this time. Then you need to let it dry and you can draw your subject on the paper and start painting it.

The Masa paper has little crinkles in it and the paint adheres to them to form a wonderful pattern.