Tuesday Watercolour Class – Week Seven

We had another snow storm last night. I felt it was time to jump the gun and bring spring into the studio. There were a lot of smiles as the students came in and saw the flowers.

There were smiles on the way out, as well, but the intervening three hour classes had definitely witnessed a few sighs and groans. Flowers are hard! They’re beautiful to look at but a real challenge to paint. Especially, when you don’t paint them very often. Painting flowers is difficult because they are so lovely we don’t want to insult them. It’s hard to be objective.

I used my demonstration sheet to talk about a few things that relate to floral painting. Colour intensity versus luminosity. The supporting role of green foliage. Use of paper white. Brushwork. To draw or not to draw. Mostly, I suggested that the students think of their work as watercolour sketching and focus on process over product.

Well! Some of them did three of even four small works and gained a lot of valuable experience. Many struggled but enjoyed themselves and could see the potential in their efforts.

I used to follow up a night of floral painting with a still life of old shoes. The shoe paintings were always wonderful. It was a relief, after the flowers, to paint something seemingly banal. I don’t know yet if I’ll set up shoes for next week and I wouldn’t give it away even if I did. Come to think of it, sandals might be a better hint that we’re ready for spring.

Tuesday AM Critique

Tuesday PM Critique

Tags: Barry Coombs, Canada, Ontario, still-life painting, Toronto, Toronto watercolour classes, watercolor, watercolor lesson, watercolour, watercolour lesson