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| Prairie Grass- inspired by an intuitive painting session from my warm-ups. |
You know that excitement that comes when you start something new or start something you have been missing? That is how I feel when I dig deeper and stretch myself with watercolor. In less than a month I (you too) have an opportunity to paint alongside Angela Fehr in her Watercolor Workshop class! I loved taking this class, and I hope to learn more of the mastery techniques that she has shown in this class. If you had taken her Lovely Loose Floral class in the early fall it looks like it will be very similar to that, with daily check-ins and lots of great critiques. I just want to shout out that IT'S GREAT TO BE A SELF TAUGHT ARTIST! Thank you, Angela, for being so dedicated to teaching watercolor to your students! Really, it means a lot to me, and to other students that are on your Watercolor Mastery.
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| The Plein Air piece that made it into the gallery during the Plein Air Art Festival |
Enough of me going on about how excited I am about this interactive watercolor workshop starting February 4th, I think she picked the PERFECT time when everyone is going a bit stir crazy from being inside all winter long right?
Here are some of the Highlights that I have taken away from the class that has helped me become a better painter:
1. There are 9 lessons, unlike most of her classes, she isn't building on paintings. The 9 different lessons to help you learn what your style is. That makes me happy, Sometimes I need to be pushed with different ways of painting, and trying new watercolor mediums to develop more as an artist.
2. The Plein Air Section helped me understand what Plein Air was and wasn't. I am so glad I tried Plein Air, and I loved it so much that her lesson pushed me to be involved in our local Plein Air festival.
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| Plein Air piece that I loved painting. |
3. Recreating a work from the masters helps us understand composition and value, the work is already done for you, you just get to play with how you would paint it to help you develop your style. This lesson goes great with the book how to steal like an artist by Austin Kleon. Good stuff! (you won't find my masters painting examples here, It's harder than I thought. But this time around I will focus on Georgia Okeefe, Maybe a Matisse. I have my favorite Artists, it depends on my mood on what I want to paint. (who knows I may surprise my self and do something with animals.)
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| Memory swept landscape Inspired by all those roads in Rural Iowa in the summer! |
4. Creating a Landscape Painting from Memory. This was where I shined the most, I had so much fun painting from memory. I love what Angela said "that your mind filters out the important things, those are the things you should focus on" Those details are what stood out in your mind, and that is what you as an artist picked up. Reference photos are great, but using your mind and artistic abilities has so much more merit than relying on a reference photo.
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| using your warm-ups for card panels! (Taylored Expressions Stamp) |
5. Keep your paintings. Mixed Media is another art form you can do with your not so good paintings. I have tons of them that now when I am in a funk and need to play for art sake, I get out my old paintings that didn't amount to anything and do some mixed media stuff to them. Like using stamps to add a background, or using ink to add lines and movement to my painting. Nothing is off limits!
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| sketch for a landscape painting I am working on |
6. Last but not least (there was so much I have learned from this class) is that when you start your painting session it's imperative to play with your watercolors. USE YOUR SKETCHBOOK. I don't think she screamed it, but the fact that we need to warm up before we do any serious fun painting should be after we warmed up and feel like painting, Paint once you are in the mindset of leaving the world/ your troubles behind you.
As always her lessons make you feel empowered, and that is huge for a stay at home mom artist! Big Thank you, Angela!
Available to anyone who wants to learn more about watercolor
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