Watercolor Workshop

I threw any sense out the door and signed up for Janet Rogers’ 2-day watercolor portrait workshop. As Lynda from the Art Room said, it would be an opportunity for me to be challenged. What the hey, I’d learn something, and it could be fun. I did, and it was.

Our job before class was to draw the 2 assigned portraits, each on a 11” X 15” sheet of 140# cold pressed watercolor paper. First step for me was to buy said sheets. I was able to purchase an 22” x 30” sheet, $10.75, at Sam Flax Art Supply. Then I just had to get up the nerve to fold it into fourths and gently tear along the folds. Success, although my palms were pretty sweaty.

Next task: draw. I’d printed the portraits out and superimposed a grid so I could sketch the sections. Wait, the printer paper and the watercolor sheets weren’t the same proportions. Wouldn’t that distort my painting? I ascertained the width to length ratios were 0.73 and 0.77 respectively. That would be the least of my worries. I lightly drew a grid on my watercolor paper and sketched in the portraits. Ready for class.

We began by watching Ms. Ross do blind contour drawings (looking at the picture and drawing without looking at our papers) and gesture drawings (taking 2 minutes to draw the full figure of a model). Then it was our turn. That was fun.

Next was painting swatches to practice making flesh tones. On our pallets, we had several blues, reds, and yellows to make all the colors we would need. I got lost in the discussion of the subtle differences between the blues. It would not be a limiting factor in my art. We used these swatches to find the many tones we would need for our portraits. 

Then we were set free to paint. What did I learn? Most importantly, I figured out that I use way too much water. That’s why I end up with hard edges and muddy colors. Dry my brush. Take breaks, be patient, quit fiddling. I also learned painting big is harder than small.

There were lots of details too: head shapes, placement of facial features, eye details. How to use a variety of colors on skin and hair that were out of our comfort zone. Ay, yi, yi. Too much information, but in a good way.

At the end, we had show-and-tell, which was actually Ms. Rogers critiquing our results. I think she struggled  to find words to describe my work, coming up with something like wild and uninhibited. She noted the hair on the woman, which I liked, but was a little too punk for the crowd. Perhaps because I’ve not done much painting and had low expectations, but I think I was the happiest with my results. People are way too hard on themselves.

I’m really glad I went.