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Fundamentals of Watercolor Painting


Steve Kleier
February  26  10-3
$85.00 plus materials list
CRN#: 6D
It is easy to understand the popularity of watercolor among artists, with such naturally luminous color and variety of effects. This workshop is designed for anyone who want to learn more about the fundamental practice of watercolor painting. Using traditional watercolor techniques and colors we will discuss composition, color and what makes a good painting and how it is accomplished.

All supplies available at Art Media

Please bring:
Cold press watercolor paper
Selection of good quality watercolor brushes
Kleenex
Palette knife
Sketchbook and drawing pencil
Watercolors:Ultramarine blue, Prussian blue, Raw sienna, Cad yellow light, Cad red light, Alizarin crimson, Burnt sienna, Burnt umber, Cerulean blue
Drawing the Human Head

Steve Kleier
March  12  10-3
$85.00 plus materials list
CRN#: 6J
Creating a lifelike portrait is one of the most rewarding things an artist can do. In this workshop we discuss basic applied anatomy and how to render it. Learn the traditional technique of chiaroscuro (rendering in light and shadow) to create a beautiful and convincing realistic portrait. There will also be a demonstration using charcoal. Students may work in pencil, charcoal or both.

All supplies available at Art Media

Please bring:

Drawing board
Sketchbook
Medium soft drawing pencil
Kneaded eraser
Black and/or Sanguine drawing pencils OR Conte crayon
White nupastel or Conte crayon



Statement

I am often asked how to capture a  fresh , spontaneous, expressive feel in a painting.

How can splashes of color and bold free strokes. Simple washes and a few darks add up to a finished painting. It seems a miracle when we scrutinize a painting like this. We wonder, “How can it be so?” There is really nothing here, a blob of warm green becomes a forest, a few lines are a city, random shapes combine to form a face. It defies all logic and yet it is right before our eyes.

This type of working is what is termed painterly , as opposed to illustrative.  Here is the difference. In illustration everything is depicted in detail. The corners of the page are rendered as carefully as the center of interest. Everything is in focus and the colors and values are rendered. The action is frozen , like a snapshot, and like a photograph there is often a feeling of realness without life. Often art is compared to photography, . If it looks like a photograph it must be a good painting. I  think this is not right. A painting must stand on its own as a painting. Not as a replica of anything.

Here is the basic problem that all artists struggle with.  The human eye sees the world in  a different way than the camera in at least two very fundamentally different ways. One, the eye has a center of focus (foveae centralis) . It sees like a bulls eye that is the center of our vision at any given moment. From this focal point averting else goes gradually out of focus to the edges of our view. Two, because of this point of focus our eyes are constantly moving to take in the whole scene. It is rare that we fix our gaze on any one particular thing for more than  a few moments. more common is the scanning  action of observing a scene.

In the painterly approach analytical scrutiny of the individual objects takes a back seat to the experience. This is actually more how we visually and physiologically experience the world. So we can say that any attempt to capture realistic 3 dimensional space on a 2 dimensional surface has  some major obstacles to overcome. Artists have risen to the challenge for years  and each one has developed their own ideas of how to solve this puzzle.

The reason I like to paint expressively is because it is for me the most visually exciting, acceptably accurate  and simply efficient way to express the world on a piece of paper. It is the most convincing  and eloquent summary of the visual experience. Expressive painting in this way  allows me to capture a sence of the world and experience every nuance of my medium in its purest way.