Friday Evening, June 1st
  

Friday evening's session began with a discussion of the skills and techniques needed in order to master some of the coolest watercolor techniques.

 

"What is a bead?"  David explains, and shows us how to use one	A kissed-edge blend - the most difficult of blending procedures	The bead is extremely important	David continues to show us the blend, using different colors to see what happens	Purple, where the red and blue blend together

 

Showing us a broken stroke, and kissed-edge blend	An example of the blends we learned on Friday evening	Broken stroke using the 1-inch Quiller wash brush, at bottom right

 

Now the class tries it	More class practice	David critiques student work and offers suggestions for improvement	What happens when the bead is too thick. We learned to control both a thick and thin bead

Examples of student work...

 

Saturday, June 2nd

 

David began the Saturday class with a discussion of "magical" blends done in one initial brushwork.  He discussed the steps in
building a painting, identifying the lightest, brightest, whitest areas first, and using gravity to help create smooth transitions
when using the kissed-edge blend.  Step by step he developed a landscape painting, and using the 'drag and lift' stroke,
added the final touch, a pine tree.  We added a glisten to the stream, and reflections for the tree.

Magical blends done in 'one' initial brushwork. It took David 3 hours to do just the head of "Kingfisher"	How you build a painting is important. First, identify the lightest, brightest, whitest areas	David used gravity to paint a blue sky on dry paper, kissing the blue edge with water half way down. He dried the painting, then added a gray-green mountain using a broken stroke, formed a bead, and kissed the edge with permanent rose to the horizon	David's demo of the foreground using the same kissed-edge technique, blending paint on the paper. Make it darker as you come forward

 

David reviews what he just did before he sends us off to try it!	This is David's painting so far...	We watch David paint the other side - a nice review for us	Deciding what to do next...

 

Now for the pine tree! That took the rest of Saturday afternoon. David did a demo, then we tried it. David worked with each of us	Those pine trees! David makes it look so easy. Remember the 'drag and lift' stroke	Adding a reflection to the stream. Add a glisten, leave 1/8 inch border on each edge, add shadow reflection, matching the tree above by tapping Paynes Gray on the edge and letting it bleed down into the wet glisten.

 

 

Sunday, June 3rd

  

Our Sunday session began with a quick sketch by David, demonstrating sketchbook techniques.  Then we set to work adding the finishing touches to our landscape painting.  For the afternoon session we began work on a larger version of the landscape, to build skills necessary when painting a larger image . . . interrupted by a sudden thunderstorm, which ran into all the north-facing windows, flooding the space with water.

 

Lee found examples of pine trees, so David did a quick sketchbook image of them	The landscape painting is nearly complete - now comes the 'special little tweaks'	David added sand color (Permanent Rose, a touch of Indian Yellow, a touch of Hookers Green to gray it down). Then he painted a graded wash of Permanent Rose along the horizon line.

David displays his final version of the landscape painting - while class members take photos!

Everyone (almost) takes a picture!	David's final class version - there will be even more tweaking later, I'm sure! Maybe adding grasses in the foreground, even another mountain

 

Samples of student paintings

David's objective for the afternoon project was to stimulate our understanding of pushing color on the paper, simplifying our image,
and paint a larger image so that we could learn to use our whole arm to paint long strokes.  David encouraged us to 'paint a feeling'.
He built a bead and carried it down the paper, changing colors at the appropriate point.  He worked both sides of the stream at
the same time, keeping his eye on the bottom edge of the bead.  Keep the bead moving, but not too quickly!

David demonstrates techniques needed to paint a larger image, and to simplify it	David explains the order of paints applied - starting with the yellow sky (Indian Yellow), Intense Blue hills watered down for a misty blue effect, a layer of Permanent Rose at their base, Hookers Green watered down, darker dirty green, followed by darker and more earthy colors.	The finished sample - keep it simple.  He said, "If you think you've lost it, set it aside.  Look at it.  Ask, 'What could I do with it?'  Then, GO BOLD!"

 

Samples of student paintings from the afternoon session

 

 

 

David presented a final demonstration, painting a Bul Bul bird using the same kissed-edge blending throughout.
Now everyone wants a bird watercolor workshop next!

David begins demo of painting a Bul Bul bird, using the same kissed-edge blending throughout.	He added water with a clean brush to give a soft effect to the bird's 'head' feathers		Building the image

 

		David used the same technique we learned in the Trees workshop to paint the branch	Almost finished - now to work on the eye

 

Finished! . . . in less than 45 minutes.  Amazing...	David shows us how to paint the eye