Ocrafolk School workshop

We had a wonderful Watercolor with Grace and Ease workshop on Ocracoke Island last week. We stayed and I taught in the Soundfront Inn, one of the oldest buildings on Ocracoke. Our studio was a long glassed in porch with a fantastic view of Pamlico Sound.

Our class with their paintings

On Friday morning, we presented our work and talked about our week to all of the classes in the school. It had been a wonderful week of pushing ourselves to new creativity, enjoying incredibly delicious food, great music and fellowship with the residents of Ocracoke and members of the school.

Peaceful Journey

Our trip home from Ocracoke on the Cedar Island Ferry held one more incredible view..the most peaceful pastel water and sky I had seen on Pamlico Sound. This dreamlike vision becomes my special place. The porpoise evaded the camera, but will be in the painting.

Cotton Fields

I have been having lots of fun learning to paint a field of cotton in front of an old white house. I began with a pencil drawing lightly sketched and applied masking fluid on the tree trunks with a brush and on the cotton bolls with a slightly unwound q-tip. I did exactly that..held it in my right hand and gently twisted it with my left until the end was loose and floppy. My intention was to get a soft shape that drooped irregularly since the rains were loosening the cotton. It worked!

Sky and Trees

I first wet the sky and tree area keeping the house dry. I dropped in a wash of antwerp blue with a bit of cobalt blue for the sky going all the way to the edge of the field.

Quickly while this was still wet I dropped in tree shapes using antwerp blue with cadmium orange (WN artist's grade only) and darker shapes of antwerp blue mixed lightly with burnt sienna. My intent was to have most of the mixing happen on the paper. The glisten of the photo shows just how wet the paper was. Remember that you should mix the color thicker when you are applying it to a wet surface and that you should not use a thinner paint unless you want a bloom.

As the trees begin to dry I quickly begin the field, starting at the base of the trees with a thinner mix of yellow ocher and burnt sienna. That's right, I want a bloom. Watercolor grows grass better than any media I know. I continue toward the bottom of the paper, adding pure burnt sienna and dropping in a mix of burnt sienna and cobalt to make the rows stand up, then accents of even darker burnt sienna and french ultramarine blue.

Shadows on the House

A white house in shadow should be darker than the sky. I came close! I next painted my shadows on the house with a mixture of cerulean blue (WN artist grade only) letting the damp yellow ocher of the grass bleed a little bounce light into the bottom of the shadow.

To be continued in the older posts. I wanted the painting steps to follow each other so have fudged the time .....