A Four-Day Class!

Sharon Segal writes:

I took a 4-day watercolor class from Eric Wiegardt in December '08 at the Oregon Society of Artists in Portland. The class was enjoyable, and very intense at the same time. Eric's style of teaching is one-concept-a-day. First he demonstrates the idea all morning. He talks while he works. Then after lunch, we have the afternoon to try to integrate the ideas with a painting of our own.

A few interesting ideas that I took away from the class are:

- When you lose your lights in watercolor, your painting has ended (and not in a desirable way!)

- Value (degree of light or dark) is so important, more important than color. Before we begin our painting, Eric urged us to create a complete value study of what we are going to paint. You plan for your picture to have at least 3 - 5 values; not colors, but lights and darks.

- Design wins over reality!

- Have an "I'm having fun" attitude. Don't make the painting too precious.

I have heard many of the ideas that Eric had presented from other artists, but he presented them in a very concrete way.

I highly recommend his workshop.

Sharon Segal

The Gift

Leslie Elder writes:

I had started to feel a bit constricted by watercolor, like a horse wanting to bust out of the stall and gallop around a bit. I thought I might go back to my old friend, acrylic paint. I'd used acrylics a lot in the past. Looking around for my old tubes of acrylic, I couldn't find them anywhere. They probably dried out and I must have thrown them away, I thought.

Then I fantasized about trying oils, something I'd never done, except once when I was a child. But then the economy took a dive, and I figured I shouldn't go out and invest a lot of money at Art Media on a new paints. After all, I still had a pretty good supply of watercolor.

Then one day, while looking still further for those darned acrylic paints, I found a stash of my grandmother's 40+ year old oil paints in an old box. I squeezed the tubes gently and knew that they were still good! I had carted that box through all of our moves, but had never seriously examined it because I don't paint with oils. Now, I realized this might be the answer.

I started looking at the paints and realized that I had a treasure of oil paint, enought to last me for some time! I felt my grandmother's presence as I looked over the gift she had left me, silently sending her my love and gratitude and knowing that she was thrilled to be able to share the paint with me at last. She had loved art, and had always encouraged me in my artistic endeavors. What a blessing! I signed up for a studio oil painting portrait class (with models) at Multnomah Art Center. Who knows what will come of this wonderful gift?

The Hunt

Sabina writes:

I'm pretty much wedded to using Arches l40 lb cold pressed paper, made in France, for my watercolors. There's something fundamental in my nature that says, "when you find something of quality, stick with it".

That said, I'm always on the hunt for stretching my boundaries and exploring. In the case of my watercolors, this hunt usually takes me in search of new and interesting papers. Often I'm disappointed with the way the new paper receives the color and the way it behaves under my corrections.

But I still search, enjoying the actual hunt as much as the "find", when it appears. The other day, at Goodwill of all places, I found two bound books of handmade paper..... rough and replete with textural variations, beautiful uneven edges, works of art in and of themselves. I can't wait to try them!

Always Learning

ORA member Leslie Elder is currently attending a watercolor class with nude models at Multnomah Art Center in Portland. This term the class is taught by Carol Humpage. "Painting with a live model, working quickly," Leslie says, "is great to loosen up my style. I'm really pleased with what it's doing for my artwork. The loosening effect flows over into my non-figurative work. Most recently I've been doing florals, because I have so many flowers in my yard now, and I have been applying the same loose, quick style that I use when working with the models in class."

"I would highly recommend working with live models to all painters. I go to Multnomah Art Center because they have sessions during the day on weekdays, which are good for me. Many of the classes there are more on the beginners level. Other studios that I have heard are good are: Hipbone Studios, as well as PNCA which has open studio sessions. The contact number for the sessions at PNCA is 503-659-4261."

Let's hear your Comments: what class(es) are you taking? What kind of art class has been most helpful or meaningful to you? Inquiring minds want to know!