Yesterday I taught a watercolor workshop at the Oregon Hatchery Research Center at Falls Creek located between Waldport and the town of Alsea. I was surprised by what I learned from the students - 25 or more in the morning and 9 in the afternoon. I thought if my students were primarily 12 years through 30 I would present my approach as extreme plein air painting useful for boaters and trekkers. If the class was mostly older I would present my approach as safe, fail proof outdoor painting. And I wouldn't expect my participants to be able to balance their painting on top of their watercolor box while standing and walking about. There were babes in arms on up in age, to my delighted surprise. The class was a family orientated social event. So I shared how I started painting outdoors on Humbug Creek, Oregon and how I remembered it very well when I went back 40 years later. I could find the very spot and remember it as though I was there yesterday. I said there were many reasons for painting - not just for making pictures on the wall. For example painting makes memories more lasting. Painting together in families makes painting a bonding process. Plein air painting can be a way to being more closely bonded to a specail place.
After an hour I did hear a complaint. A lady about my age said she had taken a few other watercolor workshops and she was always given some kind of trick that had instant satisfying results. I didn't offer any tricks. I had only named a few approaches like counting the things you liked in the landscape and then rearranging them on your paper. Or first do outline drawing in ink or charcoal pencil and then coloring it afterwards. Another approach would be to focus on one thing like tree bark or rocks and take notes of colors and textures that you might use later like in decorating a room in your home to bring the outdoors into your life everyday. The lady who wanted a trick didn't want to go outdoors or look out the window. She chose to copy a photograph and she complained that her painting was overworked. She asked me if I overworked my paintings for earlier she praised my shoe box memory accordion folded paintings were so fresh. I assured her that I did overwork my paintings. I had no solution for her.
A man with two teenage sons showed me his efforts. He was somewhat satisfied that he had painted the memory of the morning colors that he saw driving to the workshop but he did not capture the look of the mists. Here was a problem I could give help on. A white charcoal pencil drawn over the paint instantly put a mist over his hillside of fall colors.
In other words I learned I could help students when they had an observation in nature that frustrated their atttempt to picture it on paper. Students need to start by seeing and then I can suggest a technique to make it appear in their painting. If they expect a technique that will make an image of something for them, they will skip the all important step of seeing.
After an hour I did hear a complaint. A lady about my age said she had taken a few other watercolor workshops and she was always given some kind of trick that had instant satisfying results. I didn't offer any tricks. I had only named a few approaches like counting the things you liked in the landscape and then rearranging them on your paper. Or first do outline drawing in ink or charcoal pencil and then coloring it afterwards. Another approach would be to focus on one thing like tree bark or rocks and take notes of colors and textures that you might use later like in decorating a room in your home to bring the outdoors into your life everyday. The lady who wanted a trick didn't want to go outdoors or look out the window. She chose to copy a photograph and she complained that her painting was overworked. She asked me if I overworked my paintings for earlier she praised my shoe box memory accordion folded paintings were so fresh. I assured her that I did overwork my paintings. I had no solution for her.
A man with two teenage sons showed me his efforts. He was somewhat satisfied that he had painted the memory of the morning colors that he saw driving to the workshop but he did not capture the look of the mists. Here was a problem I could give help on. A white charcoal pencil drawn over the paint instantly put a mist over his hillside of fall colors.
In other words I learned I could help students when they had an observation in nature that frustrated their atttempt to picture it on paper. Students need to start by seeing and then I can suggest a technique to make it appear in their painting. If they expect a technique that will make an image of something for them, they will skip the all important step of seeing.
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