Class: Messy Palette Club (week 1)

Yes, folks, I have gone all in to try to get my creativity back. In addition to the “Writing and Illustrating Children’s Books” class (Mom got a HUGE kick out of this post), I signed up to take an online watercolor class (Summer Session Watercolor Painting Class a.k.a. Messy Palette Club) with a local instructor I have been wanting to take a class from for quite a while.

I have mainly been familiar with Vinita Pappas’ simply breathtaking plein air landscapes, though she does studio abstract and representational paintings as well. Several times a year she posts online classes, and this time I decided to go for it. The price is similar to an “in person” class through the local community college. Also, if you need to, you can take your time and catch up with the lessons.

Also appealing was the proposed “focus” of the summer session: Simplicity.

Week 1 officially started last Tuesday. While Monday is my painting night (don’t laugh too much), I did some work on Wednesday to see how things worked.

Lesson 1 was about “loosing edges.” Vinita demonstrated on an apple. I had an onion.

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It’s harder than it looks! The idea is to keep the key parts of the shape (the lightest light, the darkest dark) and see how much of the rest you can “suggest.” I think I got a little over detailed.

Then we did a wet-into-wet exercise. And Key ate it (rotten dog).

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I salvaged a little and did the homework.

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I’ll try to add a little bit of ink for a barn or something after it dries.

Then I decided to experiment. I thought the lost edges experiment would be fun with horse legs. I took sepia (eventually adding white gouache because I lost too many lights) and went to town.

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I think there is some potential here! I might try again.