IsabeauxStudio

The watercolor workshop, taught by Susan Adams, was based on the book by Jeanne Carbonetti- The Tao of Watercolor: A Revolutionary Approach to the Practice of Painting, was all about "letting it flow."  Given my stress level at that time, I thought it would be a good way to slow down, relax, and loosen up.  I was right, it was exactly what I needed, not only for my watercolor skills, but for slowing down and really removing myself from the anxiety over my job.  The below are some of the exercises that we did. 

Like my India Ink painting from post "Before" this exercise in blue was done the same way.  Limit the color choice in order to work on the technique.  I learned  how to do the background.  Instead of laying down a background "wash" with the brush like I used to try to do,  we wet the paper, added areas of paint and "rocked" the paper until colors blended and covered the whole page.  This was a very effective technique, and was an epiphany for me.

This next exercise introduced color (obviously) and had us attempt "essence of trees."  The goal was to keep the shapes loose, with minimal detail letting the viewer fill in the blanks.

 
You probably cannot see in this small thumbnail image, but I really like the light area in the center area at the top.  This is my favorite part of this piece.

 
Here is my "snow scene."  I love the color, but wish the motifs were larger and filled up more of the page as it looks a little sparse. This piece has some really nice delicate color areas as well.

This piece was done as an exercise in creating flowers.  Starting with a wet water shape, I added a bit of color and let the water move it.  Once the paper was slightly dry, I went back in with a different color and found an "edge" by outlining parts of the flower.

I also learned that it was important to have your "darkest darks" as focal points to help move the eye around the piece helping to give it depth and balance.

This is the last piece that I did in the workshop.  The goal here was to paint with water.  Starting with a really wet piece of paper, and putting in bands of deep vibrant color.  Once this dries slightly I went back in to "paint" with plain water giving a lovely delicate tie dye effect.

I learned quite a bit from this workshop.  I had been trying to paint with watercolors like I painted with oil paints.  Bottom line, you can't because watercolors don't work like that. There is still more for me to learn, but I learned really good foundation fundamentals. I find that painting with watercolors really forces me to be patient.  These days that takes a lot.