Painting Trees at Sandarosa Studio

"Today's accomplishments 

were yesterday's impossibilities."  

~ Robert H. Schuller

See Seeking Enchantment here

 Attention inkers, there's only one spot left for the
 Nov. 7th Alcohol Ink Tree Workshop.

Although there were only three participants,
my October 3rd Watercolor Workshop was held
at The Sandarosa and was a great success.

Wet-in-Wet Watercolor Trees on Arches and Yupo Workshop - 10-3-15

Between medical issues and obligations, our

group filtered down to three exuberant enthusiasts.

It was a cold, dark, rainy day, but the studio

was bursting with light and laughter.

I threw my demos down on a board and snapped this pic.

The workshop focused on painting fir trees on Arches and Yupo paper.

I haven't painted more than a half a dozen pieces on cotton rag since I started using Yupo paper almost exclusively back in January of 2013. It felt really good to re-explore old, familiar territory and find out that I still have the upper hand.

After watching my first demo, each artist did two trees (7.5 x 5.5")

(after wetting both sides of the paper) on the Arches 140 lb. cotton rag.

While they painted, I was able to help each artist with physical issues like color mixing, consistency of pigment, holding the brush, wetness vs. dryness, and techniques like flicking and squiggling. This is one of the big advantages of physical training over only using video or virtual instruction. It is hard to know if you are doing something wrong or ineffectively when there is nobody with trained eyes to observe you. After so many years of painting and art teaching experience, I can usually spot bad habits or faulty techniques that may be holding someone back. Then I can help nip them in the bud, before they become problematic or ingrained.

Student work on cotton rag from the 10-3-15 Watercolor Workshop

"I value a "don't know" attitude highly,

because it's ambiguous,
and fosters a "beginner's mind"

in which there are more possibilities
than in an "expert's mind."

~ Theresa Bayer

Student work on Yupo from the 10-3-15 Watercolor Workshop

Each participant also successfully finished one or more trees on Yupo paper.

In the end, it was unanimous that the
Yupo paper was the favorite surface of the day!
Hooray! Yippee for Yupo!

"Man is always more than he can know of himself; consequently, his accomplishments, time and again,

will come as a surprise to him."

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Only Two More Alcohol Ink Workshops
Scheduled for 2015!

As of this post, there is only one slot available for November 7th.

A NEW Two Day, Holiday Workshop has just been added!
See more information here. 

Happy Creating My Friends! 

X ♥  O