How to look and paint what you see class.

These are three 5 x 7 inch demos that I did the first day of my teen acrylic class today.

We looked at value first. 

Then we added color being aware of shadows and 

reflected light from the shiny white plates.

We also talked about why some things get accepted into shows and others don't. 

Could it be color, technique, point of view...?  

An unexpected angle gives the painting more interest. 

We also played with placement.

You can view the student work at 

www.room101art.blogspot.com

Working the fields

   

Watercolor, 8x10 inches from a vintage photo.

Workshop Demonstrations

I hosted a 3 day beginner watercolor workshop this week.

  I shared my steps to a finished painting (for good studio habits) and used a very limited palette (warm and cool of each of the primaries) to get the students used to mixing and having fun making "mud". 

These are pretty basic projects.

We started with the leaf project, working wet on wet to get used to playing with color, using salt and layering. 

The next project was the bird with simplified background. Wet on wet for the background and a soupy base for the bird with layers after each area dried.

Then the lighthouse, focusing on the stormy sky and softening shadows...

Each project gave the students some experience and confidence to move the the next subject.

 I tried to keep my demos quick and simple. 

The students all took their projects to the next level and went home with work to be proud of. 

These are the kind of workshops I love to teach. 

Tiny Plein Air, Maria Kovalenko Leysens

These two 4 x 6 inch watercolors were done near the 53 street north dock in the Cherry Grove beach area of South Carolina. We kayaked one evening and came back to fish and paint the next.