Working with Watercolor
Early this year I took a class with the
Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society.
It was a intense and heavily structured three month long
workshop taught by
the one and only Mike Bailey!
"Working Beyond the Obvious"
As an inexperienced watercolor artist, this was the only way
I would truly push myself with this medium.
Let me say, it was life changing for me... I know, corny as it sounds
but it really was a wonderful and enlightening experience for me.
Here you can see the line work for one of my first in this series.
The actual subjects in my still life are fairly easy to see:
a succulent bloom, pedestal bowl, tall olive oil decorative bottle,
and a wood box.
Each week we created two full sheet watercolor paintings.
All were based off the same still life, that never moves or changes.
Just our design compositions. Did you get that?!
And each week, every student presented their paintings
in front of the class for critique.
This was at first very intimidating for us, but it
was actually one of the best ways for us to learn
from Mike.
Mike taught us the principles and elements of design,
which was exciting for me as an architectural designer.
But this time I learned how to apply these as
a painter...
Line, Size, Shape, Direction, Color, Value and Texture
There were several reasons why his class was by far one of the best
I've ever taken. It's no wonder that several artists repeat his class
several times. Oh, yes I'll be taking it again, myself!
This is one of my favorites, created with ink and watercolor tints.
Here my still life is lost among shapes and patterns...
At the end of the workshop, the students took turns
"presenting" our paintings, with guests attending!
To see all my watercolor paintings laid out at together was really gratifying.
I'm so proud of what I accomplished, and feel much more confident
to continue working beyond the obvious with watercolor!
Me and Mike Bailey!
Early this year I took a class with the
Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society.
It was a intense and heavily structured three month long
workshop taught by
the one and only Mike Bailey!
"Working Beyond the Obvious"
As an inexperienced watercolor artist, this was the only way
I would truly push myself with this medium.
Let me say, it was life changing for me... I know, corny as it sounds
but it really was a wonderful and enlightening experience for me.
The actual subjects in my still life are fairly easy to see:
a succulent bloom, pedestal bowl, tall olive oil decorative bottle,
and a wood box.
Each week we created two full sheet watercolor paintings.
All were based off the same still life, that never moves or changes.
Just our design compositions. Did you get that?!
And each week, every student presented their paintings
in front of the class for critique.
This was at first very intimidating for us, but it
was actually one of the best ways for us to learn
from Mike.
Mike taught us the principles and elements of design,
which was exciting for me as an architectural designer.
But this time I learned how to apply these as
a painter...
Line, Size, Shape, Direction, Color, Value and Texture
There were several reasons why his class was by far one of the best
I've ever taken. It's no wonder that several artists repeat his class
several times. Oh, yes I'll be taking it again, myself!
Some compositions were repeated but altered to explore
different color palettes.
Working late into the night, I finished my last painting!
"presenting" our paintings, with guests attending!
To see all my watercolor paintings laid out at together was really gratifying.
I'm so proud of what I accomplished, and feel much more confident
to continue working beyond the obvious with watercolor!
My art to yours,
Yvette
