Watercolor Weekend Day 2: Karlyn Holman

On to Day 2 of my classes at Art of the Carolinas.  This time it was another session with Karlyn Holman, and the topic was Paint Colorful Boats. Karlyn leads art excursions all over the world, and the subject of this drawing was of boats in Venice.

The method was very different this time, because we painted on stretched canvas that had been pre-treated with a medium to allow it to accept watercolor paint.  When finished, the painting can be sprayed with acrylic and framed without glass.

There were a large number of students in a long, narrow room.  I was at the very end of this first table, and Karlyn was at the opposite end of the room.  No problem, since we all gathered around her station to watch her demo the techniques.  She walked around the room frequently offering help and encouragement.

And here is what I came home with!

My boats look a little like they are grounded on rocks or caught in an oil slick!  But it is a colorful picture.  I might work on this a little more.

Tomorrow is a workshop with Tom Lynch titled  A Watercolor that Paints Itself. 

This is another one that I am really looking forward to painting!

Watercolor Painting Revised: Sunflower

Since I had all my watercolor stuff set up on my kitchen table for the Venice cafe painting, I decided to try to improve my Sunflower watercolor painting.  This, again, was from a Karlyn Holman line drawing in a kit that included a photo reference of a flower, brief painting instructions, a photo of Karlyn's painting, and a line drawing.

This was my first attempt at the painting.  Okay, but kind of pale and weak for such a strong subject as the sunflower.

I decided to use a technique that I learned from Karlyn's DVD, Watercolors Without Boundaries.  She paints white tissue paper with her watercolor palette, letting the colors blend together, and applies them to the painting with Yes! paste.  To be more specific, she uses the paper toilet seat covers found in public restrooms!  Dad, my sister, and I got a good laugh out of that when we watched that part of the DVD together a couple of weeks ago. 

I did not have a johnny seat cover, but used some painted white craft tissue.  I tore it into small pieces and pasted them onto the flower petals.  Then I enriched the color by overpainting.  I notched up the colors in the backgrounds, as well.  Here is the revised version.

I like this version much better, and am ready to sign it and call it DONE!

And, I couldn't resist signing up for one more Karlyn Holman workshop at Art of the Carolinas next weekend.  She is going to teach us how to paint boats, but it will be on a stretched canvas support.  That sounds very new and different!  Here is the description of the Friday workshop.

Paint these colorful boats from Vernazza, Italy on this unique surface. You will be provided with a pre-drawn sketch of these boats, stretched onto a wooden frame. Paint this image and then add a spray of acrylic and frame your finished painting like an oil painting. This lesson is an abstract composition, as well as, an on location scene. The interlocking shapes and bright colors form a strong design that is exciting to paint. Join the fun and take home a finished painting on canvas.

I am getting excited about my weekend of painting lessons!

 
 



Watercolor Painting: Cafe in Venice

Here is the latest watercolor painting I completed from a Karlyn Holman drawing.



Venice Cafe, 2011

I took a class with Karlyn last year at Art of the Carolinas, and subsequently purchased her book and DVD.  I followed along on the DVD as I painted each step.  This method has really helped me understand various watercolor techniques.

For this painting, we started with painting the cast shadows on dry paper.

Then we wet both sides of the paper and added color, letting it spread beyond the lines.

After that layer dries, you add more color to crisp up various shapes.  I started adding flowers by throwing paint from the brush and letting the colors combine.

To finish, we added a wet wash for the sky, continued to darken some areas such as the shadows, and added mottling to the building on the left by sanding a watercolor pencil over wet paint.  A little color on the figures and dog, and it's done!  There is a ripple in the paper that I will have to flatten out by putting it under some heavy books.

I hate  to waste paint that is left on my palette, so I decided to use it for this month's Sketchbook Challenge journal theme:  Imaginary Animals.  I just painted some blobby animal shapes, and later added features with a black Pitt pen.  This was fun!



A Little Artwork

Today I graduated to walking with no crutches once I got downstairs.  With the ankle brace they gave me at the ER, it was not painful, as long as I hobbled without bearing full weight on the left leg.  Much better!

I located my watercolor paints and the instructional materials I purchased from Karlyn Holman.  I spent some time working on a sunflower painting from one of her kits.  She provides a line drawing, a reference photograph, and a few step-by-step instructions.  Here is how it looks so far.

The lacy look in the foreground is from sanding watercolor pencils over a piece of lace.  The sunflower center had a piece of gauze in the center to create some texture, but I think mine was too thick and I did not get the desired lines.  I may do this painting over, because I haven't done any serious watercolor in several months and am quite out of practice!

 Here is a Zentangle sampler I did on a blank page in my Moleskine journal.  There was some heavy painting on the pages behind, so I only wanted to use markers on this spread.  (Blogger decided to change the orientation of the photo!)

Finally, here is a delightful sketch that my father, Pete Turner,  did while we were in the mountains with a big group for the Fourth of July weekend.  First he made a list of everyone who was with us.  Then, he somehow managed to draw a  caricature of everyone on a tiny piece of watercolor paper that fit inside a greeting card.  He sent it to his sister Jeanne, who was born on the Fourth of July.

It was great to see Dad enjoying some art supplies after his recent deathly scare with pneumonia.  He looks better each time I see him!  Here he is painting at the kitchen table at my sister's mountain place.



His sketch of the people of the Fourth of July was my inspiration for the Dogs of the Fourth of July journal page.

Watercolors With Friends

Yesterday, my art quilt group met at my house for a fun day of playing with watercolors.  My kitchen became an art studio!  I drew a simplified version of the hollyhocks painting I did in a class with Karlyn Holman.  Fewer flowers and leaves.


This is my pre-workshop sample.

The girls were all very receptive to trying this new medium.  We watched a little of Karlyn Holman's DVD, and used her techniques to add collaged Thai papers and sanded watercolor stencils.


I have done a similar painting four times now, and each one looks different.  Here is the one I did yesterday at the meeting.

I was proud of the girls!  Here is Roberta's painting.

and here is Tama's unfinished painting.

Everyone had their own take on the brightness and values of the colors.  It was fun, and we may have a few new fans of watercolors in the group.


While we were eating lunch, the mailman rang the doorbell.  A package from Cheap Joe's Art Stuff arrived with some fun art supplies.  My husband and I are going on a fabulous trip to Hawaii in just ten days. This will be an early celebration of our fortieth anniversary.   I bought a watercolor travel journal with Arches paper.

 And the cutest little travel set of watercolors and the water brush pen.

I don't know how much time I will spend journaling or painting while we are there, but I will have a few supplies handy if I get inspired between MaiTai's.

I have been very inspired by the travel sketchbooks from artists like Suzanne McNeil and Alisa Burke.

Here is Suzanne showing the art journal she created during a trip to Mexico.  I got to see this in person when I met her at Jerry's Artarama's Art of the Carolinas last November.  What a beautiful memory book!

Roses Watercolor Painting

Here is the watercolor painting of roses that I completed yesterday from my Karlyn's Kit.

I think my underpaintings and backgrounds are fine, but painting the flower petals and leaves is going to take some practice.  I have a DVD, two books, and several more Lessons in Bags/kits from Karlyn Holman to help me improve.

I ordered a product from Daniel Smith called Watercolor Ground.  It is supposed to allow you to repaint areas after you apply it.  That might save some paper!

I'll probably start a few more backgrounds while I've got supplies all over the kitchen.  That will save some drying time next go-round.  You have to work in stages on these paintings to allow drying time.

Meanwhile, I need to get back to quilting on the longarm this week.  I have a baby quilt ready to go, and quite a few charity quilts for the guild.

Watercolors Again

Before the Christmas holidays, I took a couple classes at Art of the Carolinas.  I finished both paintings from the classes I took. Then I invested in some good watercolors and brushes.  I bought my brushes from Karlyn Holman's gallery store.  She has her own line of brushes.


Yesterday, I got my painting supplies back out and took over the kitchen table.

The weather was finally above freezing, and my sweet husband was outside washing my car.  Not that it needed it- hasn't been washed since before Thanksgiving!  Kasey watched out the window.  Her reddish-gold hair shines in the sun.

The last time I painted, I had started a second hollyhock painting, just like the one we did in Karlyn's class, but on a quarter sheet of watercolor paper instead of half.  I had done background underpainting, stencil and collage.  I used the Negative Hollyhocks "Karlyn's Kit."


I added negative painting around the drawn shapes, and then painted in more dark shapes resembling leaves, stems, and buds.

Then, I painted in the leaves, stems, and flowers.  I did not refer to my previous painting or my photos, books, or DVD of my instructor, Karlyn Holman.  I just did it. I wanted to see if I remembered what we did in class.

Not too bad!  I sort of covered up my "path of light," but I did better on "losing the edge."  Using good paintbrushes helped.


Here is my first attempt next to the second attempt.

The second attempt does not have the glow of the first one, but I like it.

You can purchase line drawings with painting instructions and step-outs from Karlyn Holman.  I purchased several at Art of the Carolinas back in November.  I had already traced the line drawing for Negative White Roses onto a full sheet of Arches 140-lb. cold-pressed paper. 

 First step:  wet front and back of paper, and add light colors for an underpainting.
Next: sand watercolor pencils over a stencil to add interest to background.
Third:  tear small pieces of Japanese paper and add randomly over painting.  When all this is dry, glue the paper down with Yes! paste.


Pretty!

Here is a close-up of the Japanese paper collage.  It picks up color from the background paint and the paste.  Karlyn also sells the  paper at her store.

Next, do some negative painting around the shapes.  Draw some more leaves and buds and negative paint around everything with a darker green mix.

Now I am ready for the flowers!

Art of the Carolinas-Watercolor Class

I admit that I thought long and hard about whether or not to fork out the cash for a day-long class at Art of the Carolinas.  It is the month before Christmas...and I could buy a lot of books, DVD's, and art supplies for the price of the class...

It was so worth it!  I loved it!  I cannot recommend a class with Karlyn Holman highly enough!

She is fun, encouraging, and brought oodles of paintings to show us. 

 We began the class with two strikes against us.  First of all, the supplies which Karlyn had shipped had not arrived.  So, no kits with photos to work from, no line drawings, and no step-by-step instructions.  No Arches paper.  No watercolor pencil kits.  She got up at 5:00 AM and prepared a line drawing for each of us in time for the 9:00 AM class, and got the paper from Jerry's.

And-OOPS!  The workshop supply list was not included on the website.  We were supposed to bring palettes, paint, brushes...most people did not bring anything.  So, most of us used Karlyn's paint and brushes.  Others came more prepared and shared their supplies.  A very nice group.  I brought a few items just in case, but had to borrow a palette, a brush, some paint colors, and  a hair dryer.

Anyway, it was amazing what was accomplished despite the obstacles!  Most of us painted the hollyhocks, since that was the subject she demonstrated.

We painted luscious backgrounds and added collaged Japanese papers and stenciling.  Here is mine.

After lunch we started negative painting the dark areas. The biggest challenge was learning how to "lose the edges" of paint. 

Then we added some dark foliage shapes.

Finally, it was on to the "positive shapes,"  or the drawn design elements of leaves, stems, and flowers.  She showed us how to paint "cast shadows" on the flowers (the violet areas.)

We learned how to paint the leaves, remembering to leave white space for the veins.  Karlyn mixes all her own greens.

Gradually we filled in stems and petals.

This was a rather complicated painting with lots of detail.  Most of us did not finish.  But we had a critique at the end, with each student work displayed in a white mat.  Amazing what we all learned during the class! Here are a few of the unfinished student paintings.

And here is mine.  I have a lot of work left to do.  I am going to wait until my kit arrives, and I have the paint colors I need.  But I am so happy with my painting so far!