2020-10-01 Watercolor Artist

MIXED GREENS: 12 Color Combinations to Try
Watercolor
ARTISTSNETWORK.COM
A PALETTE
KNIFE ISN’T
JUST FOR OIL
PAINTERS
p. 10
Becoming
Color Wise
Four Top Artists Share Their Best Advice
for Developing a Personal Approach to Color OCTOBER 2020
Celebrating our 50th Anniversary!
ON SALE NOW
AT QUILLERGALLERY.COM!
*HZLPU7HPU[PUN^P[O:[LWOLU
8\PSSLY!*HZLPU:LJYL[Z9L]LHSLKPU
[OL<S[PTH[L+LÄUP[P]L.\PKL
Explore the possibilities and the beautiful

milk-based water medium of casein in
Stephen Quiller’s new book. He takes you
through his painting processes, beginning
with color harmony and color relationships.
Referring to the Quiller Casein Color Wheel,
he demonstrates how to use his spectral
palette and create incredible, exciting
and personal color relationships. He then
KPZJ\ZZLZKPɈLYLU[WHPU[HWWSPJH[PVUZPU
both water media and traditional easel
painting approaches. He discusses
various materials and surface supports
in which the artist can paint and how the
paintings can be best displayed. Stephen
then moves to various subjects that are
ideal for painting with casein, followed by
combining casein with other water media.
Each combination is used to its advantage,
compatibility and archival nature. Lastly,
the artist author displays a gallery of
paintings alongside various quotes from his
journals. The archive paintings in this book
span a period of 50 years of the artist’s
oeuvre. ;OPZPZ[OLÄYZ[KLÄUP[P]LN\PKL[V
[OLZ\IQLJ[VMJHZLPUHUKPZHT\Z[MVY
L]LY`HY[PZ[»ZSPIYHY`
“The Jack Richeson company is the sole maker of casein, and they have
JYLH[LKÄ]LILH\[PM\SUL^JVSVYZ[OH[NVWLYMLJ[S`^P[OT`JVSVY8\PSSLY
Palette. It is a dream come true, and I just can’t get enough of this paint!”
– Stephen Quiller, American Watercolor Society Award Winner
To find out more about my new 12-color casein

set, visit quillergallery.com.
Paintings | Etchings | Workshops | The

Th Best in Water Media
d Supplies
l
RVJMMFSHBMMFSZDPN
Contents OCTOBER 2020
Features
24
COLOR CONFIDENCE
Four celebrated artists—Mark
Mehaffey, Jean Haines, Donna
Zagotta and ZL Feng—share
expertise and inspiration for
cultivating color competence.
BY ANNE HEVENER
32
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
The pleasure of on-site
sketching in the “City of Lights”
has steered the creative
trajectory for Alex Hillkurtz.
BY CHRISTINE PROSKOW
40
OF MINDFULNESS
AND REALITY
With an eye for design and
meticulous attention to detail,
Stephan Hoffpauir’s realistic
watercolors invite viewers to
engage everyday subjects with
renewed appreciation. 24
BY ROBERT K. CARSTEN
50
A POINT OF
58
TRAVELING LIGHT,
DEPARTURE SKETCHING BRIGHT
Urban scenery—buildings, Junko Ono Rothwell’s
swimming pools, parking lots— longtime passion for field
supplies the inspiration for sketching has fed her
40 Amy Park’s innovative visions.
BY C.J. KENT
creatively for many years.
BY AMY LEIBROCK
ArtistsNetwork.com 1
OCTOBER 2020
Columns
4 EDITOR’S NOTE
We love color, and so we
meet the challenge.
5 HAPPENINGS
Denise Ramsay’s botanicals,
a tribute, and more.
BY MCKENZIE GRAHAM
8 ANATOMY OF
A PAINTING
William Trost Richards brings
color nuance to the seaside.
BY JERRY N. WEISS
10 CREATIVITY
WORKSHOP
The palette knife, perhaps
unexpectedly, offers lots of
potential for special effects.
BY BEV JOZWIAK
14 BURNING QUESTION
What part of the creative
process is the most fun?
COMPILED BY ANNE HEVENER
18 WATERCOLOR
ESSENTIALS
There’s a lot to learn from
66
a limited color palette.
BY BRIENNE M BROWN
18
66 BRIGHT IDEAS
12 color mixes to spruce up
your greens.
BY BRENDA SWENSON ON THE COVER
Mixed Greens: 12 Combinations
72 OPEN BOOK to Try 66
For creating intrigue, color
and shadow are “key.” Becoming Color Wise 24
BY LINDA DALY BAKER A Palette Knife Isn’t Just for
Oil Painters 10
Get Social Café Cassette (detail; watercolor and ink

on paper, 15x11) by Alex Hillkurtz
@ARTISTSNETWORK
Watercolor Artist (ISSN 1941-5451) is published six times a year in February, April, June, August, October and December by Peak Media Properties, LLC, dba Golden Peak Media, 9912 Carver Road, Cincinnati OH
45242; tel: 513/531-2222. Single copies: $7.99. Subscription rates: one year $21.97. Canadian subscriptions add $12 per year postal surcharge. Foreign subscriptions add $18 per year postal charge, and remit in U.S.
funds. Watercolor Artist will not be responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or artwork. Only submissions with a self-addressed, stamped envelope will be returned. Volume 28, No. 5. Periodicals
postage paid at Cincinnati, OH, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send all address changes to Watercolor Artist, P.O. Box 422140, Palm Coast, FL 32142-2140. Peak Media Properties. Back issues are
available at artistsnetwork.com/store or by calling 800/811-9834. GST R122594716. Canada Publications Mail Agreement No. 40025316. Canadian return address: 2835 Kew Drive, Windsor, ON N8T 3B7.
2 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

8LI&IWXSJ;EXIVGñSV
Splash 21 Competition Winners
The Best of Watercolor: Splash 21 Winners

Digital Edition | $14.99 | ESPL2001
Print edition coming September 2020!
ArtistsNetwork.com/Store
Selected artwork above from The Best Of Watercolor (from top left): Some Cups and Polka Dots by Lana Privitera, Early Morning, NYC by Thomas Valenti,
Autumn Light by Kathleen Alexander, Happiness by Patricia Guzman, Madrones by Lynn Slade and background Image Yuen Long by Rainbow Tse.
We would like to extend a special thanks to our competition sponsor, BLICK Art Materials for their ongoing support for artists!
Editor’s Note Watercolor
ARTISTSNETWORK.COM
C olor is personal. Even as

children, we develop strong
opinions. We gravitate to
specific colors in the crayon box. We
take very seriously the question:
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Anne Hevener
SENIOR DESIGNER Brian Roeth
SENIOR EDITOR Holly Davis
INTERIM ASSOCIATE EDITOR Christina Richards
What’s your favorite color? We may ADVERTISING

struggle when someone takes the last ADVERTISING CONSULTANT Mary McLane
available sheet of pink construction paper. Turns out, none Northeastern, Western U.S. & International; 970/290-6065
of this changes very much when we become adults. Color mmclane @goldenpeakmedia.com
continues to have a tremendous capacity to cause delight
ADVERTISING CONSULTANT Kaline Carter
and trigger joy. For artists, however, it has the power to
Southeastern U.S.; 505/730-9301
provoke both joy and torment, as expressed by Monet.
kcarter@goldenpeakmedia.com
The challenge for artists, of course, is to take the delight
of color in the world and re-create it on paper or canvas. MEDIA SALES COORDINATOR Casey J. Laug
Happily, we know plenty about how to capture color in a 800/726-9966, ext. 13439; claug @goldenpeakmedia.com
painting, based on scientific principles as well as the hard- GOLDEN PEAK MEDIA
won efforts of artists across time. It can sometimes feel,
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Gregory J. Osberg
however, that the more we learn, the more overwhelmed
we become. Often, the secret is hearing the right piece of SVP, CONSUMER MARKETING Paula Backer
advice at the precise moment you’re ready to hear it. VP, FINANCE Jordan Bohrer
VP, DIGITAL Melanie Darienzo
VP, PRODUCT AND STRATEGY Josiah Klebaner

Color is my day-long obsession,
“
joy and torment.
—CLAUDE MONET ”
DIRECTOR OF CONTENT, FINE ART GROUP Tricia Waddell
NEWSSTAND SALES Scott T. Hill

scott.hill@pubworx.com
EDITORIAL OFFICES
9912 Carver Road, Blue Ash, OH 45242
513/531-2222; wcaedit@ goldenpeakmedia.com
With that in mind, we pulled together four well-known
artists for the article, “Color Confidence” (page 24), and SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
asked them to discuss some of the ideas that drive their P.O. Box 422140, Palm Coast, Fl 32142-2140
engagement with color at present, as well as the lessons US/Canada 800/811-9834
and discoveries that have had the most impact on their Foreign subscribers 386/246-3371
color strategies over time. Each painter offers a unique wcm.pcdfusion.com/pcd/customersupport/app/17221
experience plus some practical tips for furthering your
color education. CUSTOMER SERVICE
On page 18, you’ll see how using a limited palette of To submit a request or start a live chat, visit
just three paints can be an effective way to get a handle on peakmediaproperties.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
color, as demonstrated in a landscape painting by artist NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTION

Brienne Brown. Also, on page 66, you’ll find recipes for
Internationally distributed by Curtis Circulation Co.,
favorite green mixtures taken right off a page from Brenda
730 River Road, New Milford, NJ 07646.
Swenson’s own personal color handbook. Tel: 201/634-7400. Fax: 201/634-7499.
Hopefully, some of these insights and strategies will
Attention Retailers: To carry Watercolor Artist in your stores,
inspire your own discoveries and breakthroughs, leading
contact: sales@goldenpeakmedia.com.
you toward more joy, and less torment, in your creative
encounters with color. WA PRIVACY PROMISE
Occasionally we make portions of our customer list available to other companies so
PHOTO BY CARA HUMMEL.
they may contact you about products and services that may be of interest to you. If
you prefer we withhold your name, simply send a note with the magazine name to:
List Manager, Golden Peak Media, 9912 Carver Road, Blue Ash, OH 45242.
Printed in the USA.
Copyright © 2020 by Peak Media Properties LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Watercolor Artist magazine is a registered trademark of Peak Media Properties LLC.

Happenings
CLOCKWISE FROM
BELOW LEFT
Faded Glory (28x26½)
I Come in Peace (30x22)
Protea (12x16)
/ MAKING A SPLASH /
Denise
Ramsay
Denise Ramsay (deniseramsay.com)
paints bold, structural botanical
works that pop off the page in a big
way—literally. Her compositions professional painting until she sud- For an artist just starting out,
are typically 24x33-inches for maxi- denly needed transportable work. She watercolor might seem a challenging
mum impact and painted with lots of and her husband had begun splitting medium, but Ramsay says it felt like a
detail—a necessity, she says, for their time between homes in Hong natural pairing. “I found it easy to pick
a spot-on execution. Ramsay focuses Kong and France, and the artist was up layering light to dark and loved the
on lighting and color, along with size, freelancing in the fashion industry. detail required to render a subject.
for a hard-to-miss result. “A strong A chance discovery of the Society of There’s a softness to watercolor and
shadow has the ability to give life and Botanical Artists Distance Learning the way the layers of color are per-
three-dimensionality to any painting,” Program propelled her to finally ceived by the eye that I don’t think you
she says. “It could be a pale flower, but embrace her artistic inclinations. can get from opaque mediums. Photos
if you take care with highlights and “Along with guidance, the program show the overall effect, but only our
darks, it’ll look amazing.” gave me a deadline every six weeks,” eyes can truly pick up on that kind of
Ramsay says she always felt “arty,” she says. “It gave me the excuse nuance, and I love the reaction I get
but didn’t come around to the idea of I needed to forgo other demands.” from people regarding my work.”
Happenings
New + Notable
/ STUDIO STAPLES /
Floral C
Cotton Mask [$19]
Dec
Declare your allegiance
to watercolor as you
vvisit essential
businesses wearing
this mask with
elastic sides. It
has three
protective layers,
is 8x6-inches,
and is machine
washable.
etsy.com/shop/
maytreeark
Watercolor Painting Kit [$18]

A great gift for the novice in your circle, this painting kit
comes with six 8½x11 simple designs printed on 140-lb.
watercolor paper, 12 colors and a paintbrush.
etsy.com/shop/littleislanocompany
/ WATERCOLOR WORLD /
IN MEMORY OF LIU SHOUXIANG
With his cool, limited palette and rug-

ged subjects, watercolorist and teacher
Liu Shouxiang depicted an intensity
and passion for the world with a
medium long marginalized in China. Liu
died on February 13, at age 61, from
pneumonia caused by the COVID-19.
The artist was well known in Wuhan,
China, where he taught at the Hubei
Institute of Fine Arts until his retirement
in 2018. He shared his passion for
watercolor, opening the first watercolor
department at the Institute in 2009, even
as he struggled with resistance, locally,
to watercolor as a fine art medium.
His own paintings, primarily land-
scapes and still lifes, he kept mostly to
himself out of modesty, until his first
solo exhibition, at the Institute, in 2019.
Liu often broke the mold and used
watercolor in his own way, layering
acrylic over the watercolor for an
opaque, saturated quality unusual
among watercolorists in the region.

/ RESTAURANT RELIEF /
Cooking Up Funds
Cincinnati-based artist Terri Schmitt
sold prints of her food-centric
paintings to raise relief money for
local restaurant workers who were
impacted by the pandemic.
What’s your history in art?

I’ve been painting since 2013. I’m
currently working on an abstract
series that features my love for
food and design.
How long have you worked in

watercolor?
I avoided it for a long time after being told that it’s difficult,
but in the last two years I’ve started using it.
What do you like about the medium?

I love its portability. I made a series of 100 watercolors of
kitchen objects over the course of several months. I found
myself sketching while traveling on planes, trains and boats,
and even as I cooked or laid in bed.
Tell us about your project to support restaurant workers.

Before painting, I worked as a personal chef and caterer
while attending culinary school, so I have a deep respect and
love for the chefs, cooks, bussers, dishwashers, hosts and
servers in our restaurants. These people are my friends.
I decided to use a little creativity to try to do some good by
selling originals and prints from my kitchen-object series. I’ve
been able to give at least 50 percent of the proceeds to local
restaurant workers. Learn more at terrischmitt.com. WA
Anatomy of a Painting
Noble Beauty
Out-of-Doors
A large-format watercolor by WILLIAM TROST RICHARDS
shows off the artist’s particular gifts for managing color.
By Jerry N. Weiss
A n artist’s expertise with color

may be demonstrated with
nuance, the employment of
shifts so subtle that they escape the
casual viewer. By the time William
A Rocky Coast
(1877; watercolor and gouache
on fibrous brown wove paper,
28⅛x36¼) by William Trost Richards
Trost Richards (1833–1905) painted
A Rocky Coast, he was considered one
of the most skilled watercolor artists
in the United States.
Like many landscape painters of his hours ... with folded arms, studying
era, Richards was influenced by the the motion of the seas—until people
British art critic and writer John thought him insane.”
Ruskin, who advocated the detailed The artist made hundreds of beau-
study of nature, imbued with spiritual tiful studies—some romantic in effect
significance. While a young man, and others more journalistic in their
Richards wrote, “Ruskin says truly compilation of detail—along the rock-
that he only is great who had reached bound coasts of Great Britain and
the heart of a thing, and this in the New England.
inner and most holy place.” Richards In the mid-1870s, Richards settled
became the primary exponent of Pre- in Newport, R.I. After building a
Raphaelitism in America. house there that overlooked
Initially, Richards mostly painted in Narragansett Bay, he told a friend:
the mountains of upstate New York “You can’t realize what a delight it is
and was associated with the Hudson to have the finest subjects in one’s
River School. Much like Winslow front yard.” WA
Homer, his contemporary, the artist
gravitated increasingly toward the Jerry N. Weiss is a contributing writer
shoreline in his middle age. According to fine art magazines and teaches at
to the artist’s son, Richards “stood for the Art Students League of New York.
Richards was pleased with
the positive reception to
his large watercolors and
with how they’d contributed
“[He] stood for hours ... with folded arms, to his artistic development.
“My big drawings have
studying the motion of the seas— opened my eyes to new
and noble beauties in
until people thought him insane.” the out-of-doors.”

The painting is a technical showcase for Richards’ mastery
of color changes. Within the shadows there are multiple
A friend of the artist suggested that the subject of variations of warm and cool tones, blue and rust colors,
A Rocky Coast was Pulpit Rock in Nahant, Mass., which altogether create a lively gray that simulates
a site that Richards had painted before. The iden- complex rocky striations. Lights on the rocks are painted
tification is dubious, however, since the central with strokes that alternate from yellow and orange to
formation doesn’t resemble what is seen in other blue. These color changes indicate the difference between
paintings and photos of Pulpit Rock. A definitive direct sunlight and a secondary, indirect light from the sky.
comparison is no longer possible as the landmark The water grades from blue/violet to green, its surface
was destroyed by a storm in the 1950s. affected by soft light and flecked with foam.
THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. CATHARINE LORILLARD WOLFE COLLECTION, BEQUEST OF CATHARINE LORILLARD WOLFE, 1887
A Rocky Coast is built upon opposing In 1877, in an effort to adapt to changing tastes and to
diagonals. Rocks in the left foreground differentiate his work from that of other artists, Richards
connect to an outcropping at right, a exhibited large-format watercolors. A Rocky Coast was
direction repeated in a bank of clouds. In painted on a type of brown paper used to line carpeting
the right foreground, rocks and incoming that was rough in texture. Since the artist freely applied
surf point in the other direction. At the gouache, the effect is similar to that of oil painting, in which
fulcrum, silhouetted by a light horizon, is darker areas are traditionally done with transparent washes.
the central formation, which is sensitively Opaque pigment is laid down in light-struck passages and
drawn and immensely forceful. is evident in highlights on the rocks and sea foam.
Creativity Workshop
In Universal Canvas (19x23)

I added out-of-the-tube gesso to
The Palette Knife

the paper, then pulled it into the
background with my palette
knife. When using this technique
for hair, be careful not to get too
carried away or it will look stringy.
and Watercolor:
You’ll need some resting spots, or
what I call “calmer places.”
a Winning Combination
The palette knife may seem an unlikely watercolor tool, but it can
create some powerful effects—if you know the right way to use it.
by Bev Jozwiak

M any people think the palette
knife is a tool only to be
used in conjunction with oil
or acrylic. I paint mainly in acrylic
and watercolor, but use my palette
works, quite frankly, I could never
have pulled off without one.
Peacocks, for example, would seem
impossible for me to do without
a palette knife because I create all
I can get a finer line with this
technique than I could ever get by
using masking fluid. There’s also the
bonus of not having to fix the stark
lines that masking leaves after it has
knife most often with the latter. the little string-like lines in their tail been removed.
Almost every painting I do has at feathers with a rapid succession of
least some small area in which I’ve scrapes, wiping the blade off on CHOOSING PAPER
put a palette knife to use. Some a paper towel between each scratch. I’ve found that hot-pressed paper
works better than cold-pressed for the
look I’m after. When the surface of
cold-pressed paper is scratched, the
paint runs into those scratches, creat-
ing a dark line instead of the effect
that I want, which is a lifting of the
paint. On hot-pressed paper, I can use
the side of my palette knife to lift out
whole areas of paint or scratch out
small detail areas with the point of
the blade.
My favorite paper is hot-pressed
Stonehenge Aqua in either 140-lb. or
275-lb. weights. It’s a very slick paper,
and the sizing is perfect. I’ve had trou-
ble with the sizing being kind of pilly
with some brands but have never had
an issue with this paper. It works
beautifully with the palette knife and
for lifting with a paint brush.
I’ve tried this technique on YUPO
with some interesting results as well.
YUPO is a synthetic, plastic-based
paper that’s so slick; it’s easy to bring
it back to the original white. No mat-
ter which paper you choose, spend
some time practicing with different
paint consistencies, as well as deter-
mining when and where to use the
palette knife to achieve the effects
you’re after.
TOP
Nesting (15x18) is a perfect example of
the effects of a palette knife on
watercolor. I painted the eggs and the
dark area around them, then started on
the nest area. I added paint and scraped
as I went along. Then I went back and
added darks (burnt sienna and French
ultramarine blue) into some of the
crevices that the knife work created.
LEFT
You can see how much I relied on my
palette knife when painting All Wet
(16x20). I used smaller, thin lines in the
bird’s back and neck and made bigger
scrapes in the blue area next to the
orange part. I used the same technique
in the water below the bird’s feet.
Creativity Workshop
RIGHT
The peacock’s tail
feathers were all
done with a palette
knife in Perfect
Beauty (30x17).
I used heavy paint
and scraped out
the highlights. In the
purple/burgundy
areas to the right of
this birds legs, I used
my knife to drag
the paint to create
interesting stringy
feather shapes.
BELOW
Lion in the Grass
(22x15) is a good
example of how
wonderfully this
technique works for
painting fur. Just
remember to use it
sparingly.
It’s All in
the Wrist
When using a palette knife for
watercolor painting, you’ll need
to be careful not to mar the
paper. There are different ways
to hold the tool depending on
what effect you’re trying to
achieve. Never use the very tip of
the blade; it’s better to angle it
a little to the side. If you’re right
handed, tilt your palette knife
a little to the right and use your
forefinger to bend it slightly (see
photo below).
CHOOSING A palette knives to see which works

PALETTE KNIFE best for you.
I prefer to use a palette knife with a
longer blade as opposed to the small, TIMING IS EVERYTHING
sharp-edged ones. Cheap Joe’s has Timing is key for using a palette
a wide selection of affordable knife—the paint can’t be dry. It
options. Everybody has their unique should have a shine to it, which
touch and way of doing things so, shows it’s still wet but not so sloppy
just as with the different papers, wet that it all runs back into the areas
play around with various sizes of you‘ve just scraped out. If you’re

I used gesso and a
palette knife in On
Pointe (16x21). After
laying the gesso on
really thick in the skirt
area, I started mixing
it with my watercolors
and scraping to create
a more abstract
background. Lifting
and moving the paint
around with the side
of a palette knife
creates all kinds of
interesting effects.
working on hot-pressed paper and the paint. To achieve some effects, the Bev Jozwiak is an international artist
paint has already dried, it’s still possi- paint must be a quite thick, almost and best-selling author. She has earned
ble to re-wet the area and then scrape toothpaste-like consistency. This isn’t her signature status in the American
out the marks you want, but the effect a tool to use with thin washes of Watercolor Society, the National
will be much better if it’s done before paint. It seems to work better with Watercolor Society and Watercolor West,
the paint has dried. My suggestion is a more direct method of painting. among others. Her award-winning work
to just put paint on scraps of paper, I never like to play it safe. Trying has been published in several editions of
and try different techniques before something different is a lot more fun the Splash book series and featured in a
actually starting a “real” painting. than doing the same old thing with number of art magazines.
Take note not only of how wet your every painting. Experimentation is
paper is but also the thickness of your the best way to see your art grow. WA
Burning Question
What part of the

creative process is
the most fun?
For Michael
Reardon, the fun
begins with pencil
sketches, like this
one for his
painting San Stae
(watercolor on
paper, 20x10).
Michael Reardon
Making preliminary pencil sketches—which I do prior to every painting—is by far the most enjoyable
part of my process. This is the stage when I make most of my creative decisions. The freedom of a
pencil permits me to be carefree as I explore values and composition since any changes are easily
made with an eraser. Because my sketches aren’t intended for public viewing, I don’t worry about
technique, splotches or smears. They’re simply a personal tool with which to explore and compose
before I begin to paint. Most often a sketch is no more than a 5-minute doodle, but a more complex
scene may require 20 to 30 minutes. A sketch helps me detect compositional flaws. If it doesn’t grab
me and I can’t figure out a way to fix it, I just start a new one. It’s not a hardship at all but merely an
opportunity to spend more pleasurable time sketching.

Carolyn Lord
The best part of the creative process is coming up with the
concept. I have a small garden and, as I tend my plants
during the blooming and fruiting seasons, I observe the sun’s
movement and the corresponding shadows, and I consider
possible painting motifs. Because I paint en plein air, I look
forward to the times of year when the plants are ready to be
transformed into paintings. I appreciate that my garden not
only provides fruit to eat but also paintings to show and sell.
Lemons and Roses (watercolor on paper, 14½x10½) by Carolyn Lord is an
example of the colorful and luminous subjects she finds in her own garden.
Carla O’Connor
At some point in my painting process,
I’ll invariably make an unfortunate
decision that results in a mini or some-
times major problem, but to me, this
is the best part of the process. It’s a
surprise gift—something to be solved,
reinvented, deleted or enhanced—
a chance to be truly creative. I’ve
found that most often, it’s the biggest
risks that bring the greatest results.
Katherine Chang Liu

I enjoy the process of translating an idea into an
abstract visual image. I might do six to eight thumb-
nail sketches and then select the best one. At that
point, I’ll title the painting—before ever starting to
paint. With the image quite concrete in my mind
and the title there to keep me focused, the real fun
begins. By knowing what my goal is, I can paint
quite expressively. My abstractions are, to me,
literally a representation of my ideas.
Katherine Chang Liu’s painting, Sanctuary (mixed media, 24x20) features
imagery on the left that represents her studio “with even a painting table in
the middle,” she says. The red-leaf patterns on the right of the piece indicate
the Japanese Maples in the courtyard outside her window. The painting
Imagine (watercolor and gouache on paper, 26x22) speaks to the refuge of Liu’s painting space, where she loves being sheltered
by Carla O’Connor from the “noise” of the outside world.
Burning Question
James Toogood
Identifying and solving the hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of issues that arise while making Tim Saternow’s
process includes a
a painting is exciting. From concept to comple- flinging-paint stage
tion, each stage has its own delights, though that he enjoys. At left
is a work-in-progress
some moments stand out. I enjoy the moment, photo for his painting
after the drawing is complete, when I begin West 15th Street
Bridges (watercolor
laying in the first washes. It‘s thrilling to watch on paper, 40x26).
the light, shade and color first emerge and
sparkle on the paper. Finishing a piece is satis-
fying, but the real fun is in the journey.
Tim Saternow
Splashing and throwing paint is the most fun.
After a carefully drawn and detailed grisaille
value layer, I lay my paper on the floor and—
Black Bay Shallows (watercolor on
paper, 14½x10½) by James Toogood using a big brush—I just fling thin paint water
on top to break down the “perfectness” and
Finishing a piece is satisfying, give the painting real life and drama. This
“
but the real fun is in the journey.
—JAMES TOOGOOD ”
“breaking down and building up” technique
helps to capture all the dirt, grit and grime
that gives New York City its character.

;EXIVGñS V *V
ë Hó
Explore
with Jean Haines’ Video Collection
Immerse yourself in mindful, expressive

instruction and workout your watercolors with
world renowned artist, Jean Haines.
In this three video series, join Jean Haines as she

shares her methods for creating beautiful, free-
flowing watercolor paintings—no drawing required!
From fun and simple exercises in color and brushwork
to advanced techniques and challenges, the videos in
this series will help you loosen up to find watercolor
freedom.
Atmospheric Flowers
Jean Haines teaches you how to paint any flower you
see! Learn how to paint daffodils, delphinium, roses, and
sunflowers while you push yourself to experiment with
color, texture, and abstract effects.
Expressive Birds
Learn to paint birds with Jean Haines—no sketching
required! Strengthen your watercolor process with Jean’s
tips and techniques on capturing movement and color.
Watercolor Workout 2
Master new watercolor skills with Jean Haines! Discover
tips for working with color, including adding texture, color
mixing, letting pigments interact, as well as working with
water and gravity.
With this video series, explore a range of subjects along with gorgeous step-by-step projects packed
full of tips and advice. Explore more inspiration and instruction from Jean Haines and discover
many other instructors at ArtistsNetwork.com
Watercolor Essentials
Good Things A s artists, we love color. We

swoon over a painting with
gorgeous neutrals, intense
chromas, adjacent complementary
hues that seem to vibrate and a well-
Come in Threes placed color note that brings an

artwork together. We love the bright
and vibrant as well as the subtle and
understated. Learning to paint with
color, however, can be overwhelming,
Build color confidence with especially when you’re just starting
a limited palette of primary colors. out. You’re faced with several ques-
tions: What colors should I use? What
By Brienne M Brown color am I looking at? How can I mix

that color? Just buying paint can be There’s no magic or universal painting—value, shapes, composi-
stressful. For example, which red palette that will guarantee a successful tion, paint application and so on.
should you buy? There are so many to painting, but the good news is that As you gain more confidence, you
choose from—scarlet lake, cadmium you can use any hues—you just need can bring in other colors that play
red, pyrrole red or quinacridone red— to learn how to use the ones you well with your base triad or vary its
to name a few. choose. This may sound easier said makeup in order to build, over time,
Sometimes taking a workshop adds than done; however, the way to learn a palette that speaks to you.
to the confusion because every artist color confidence, build a personalized Second, with a triad palette, you’ll
uses a different palette and has favor- palette and use the full power of color learn how to mix colors to create
ite colors as well as those they “never is to start simple and build as you a desired effect instead of trying to
use.” You might end up buying 20 or gain experience. Painting with a lim- match the hue in front of you or in
more paints and still not know how to ited palette is a great way to do this. a photo. When I paint, I match values,
use them. Where do you start? not exact colors, because I consider
THE POWER OF TRIADS values to be the backbone of my paint-
There are several examples of limited ings. Don’t get me wrong—I know
palettes and color schemes that can color is important. It can be powerful
OPPOSITE be useful, but I find the triad scheme in creating mood, unity and harmony,
For Break From the Storm (watercolor to be the most versatile and easiest to but tones create the structure of the
on paper, 17x21), I used a base triad of start with. It gets back to the basics painting. If your values are correct,
orange, purple and green, thus with red, yellow and blue. There are the chroma can be a little off, and the
creating a different mood from a
yellow, red and blue triad.
several reasons why working with just painting will still read well.
the three primaries helps you find Third, you’ll create more powerful
BELOW confidence in painting and learn more paintings by using three colors than
I used my favorite triad for Following about color. you will using 20. When beginner
Shadows (watercolor on paper, 10x16): First, so much can be accomplished artists see a tree in a scene, they tend
cobalt blue, quinacridone rose and
transparent yellow oxide. The only with three colors, so why complicate to look for a green in their palette of
other colors added were the opaque the learning process of mastering 20 paints, but that green probably
colors lavender and horizon blue, used the other foundations of watercolor has no relation to the other hues in
for accents and some mixing.
Watercolor Essentials
LEFT
A limited palette is great for
painting winter scenes because
it helps you focus on the values
and the beautiful neutrals you
can mix. I used my favorite triad
as the base for On the Road
(watercolor on paper, 12x24):
cobalt blue, quinacridone rose
and transparent yellow oxide.
BELOW
Visiting the Farm (watercolor
on paper, 11x14) shows how
I can get a wide range of hues
from my base triad of cobalt
blue, quinacridone rose and
transparent yellow oxide. The
added colors for the darks and
accents are alizarin crimson,
ultramarine blue and
transparent red oxide.

the painting. Mixing a green using
the blue and yellow used in other
areas of the painting creates har-
mony, even if that color isn’t the
exact shade of the tree.
MARVELOUS MIXTURES
You probably remember from begin-
ning art classes that by mixing the
primary colors (red, yellow and blue)
you get the secondary colors (orange,
green and violet). Although this is
useful, it’s not the whole story.
Mixtures of red, yellow and blue can
also give you neutrals, which are cre-
ated with any combination of the
primaries. By changing the domi-
nance of one color, you get a wide
range of beautiful toned-down hues.
Using a color’s complement—the
color directly opposite on the color
wheel—is also a good way to desatu-
rate a hue. Nature is made up of
mostly grays, not pure saturated col-
ors. For example, by mixing yellow
and blue, you can get a range of
greens. Then by adding the comple-
ment, red, into the mix, you can
neutralize and warm the green. You
can then cool this color by adding blue
and warm it back up with yellow.
There are so many possibilities, and
with watercolor, you get the added
benefit of letting the paint mix on the
paper. If you let it do so, the paint can
create its own exciting combinations.
BUILD YOUR PALETTE

There are lots of paints to choose from,
and each interacts differently and
changes the range of colors you can For Burning Leaves
mix and the moods you can create. (watercolor on paper,
Try different triad combinations until palette. For my studio and plein air 14x10), I used the triad
you find one that works well for you. work, I have about 14 stock paints cobalt blue, quinacridone
rose and permanent
You can, of course, alter or expand plus a handful of opaque colors yellow lemon—the same
your triad colors for specific effects or that I use for accents. Even though triad I used for the demo
for different subjects. For example, my overall palette includes a lot of painting on pages 22–23.
one of my favorite triads is cobalt paints, for any one painting I limit I added only permanent
orange for the fire.
blue, quinacridone rose and transpar- the number I use—usually only five
ent yellow oxide; however, for the to eight colors total.
demonstration in this article, I substi- I’ve adapted my palette over
tuted permanent yellow lemon as my the years and, through experience,
yellow because I wanted to get a have learned what combinations
brighter spring green.
As you get comfortable with mixing
I like. When painting, I always have
a couple of open wells for trying new
Turn for a demo
your base triad of colors—getting hues because I never know when
the correct values, using the right I might find a new favorite color.
paint consistency and so on—you can Enjoy the process of building your
add more colors to personalize your personalized palette.
demo
The Power of Primaries

Let me take you step by step through the process of creating a painting
with only the three primary colors.
Step 1
Artist’s Toolkit Value study: Before starting
a painting, whether in the studio or
SURFACE: Saunders
on-site, I do a value sketch to establish
Waterford 140-lb. the value pattern and composition.
cold-pressed paper
PAINTS:
• Daniel Smith cobalt blue
and quinacridone rose
• Holbien permanent
yellow lemon
BRUSHES:
• No. 8 DaVinci Caseneo Quill
round wash
• Nos. 18 and 10 Escoda Perla
Step 2
Drawing: I drew out the composition
Toray white synthetic round on watercolor paper, using a 2B pencil.
• No. 12 Princeton Aqua Elite
long round
• No 3 Cheap Joe’s Scoggy’s
Loose Goose dagger striper
Step 3 Step 4
First wash: I created pools of my triad colors on my palette, using Background: I let the first wash dry completely. Then, after
lots of water and little pigment. I then started at the top of the recharging my triad pools with more pigment, I painted the
paper and moved down, painting around the white areas and background with neutral colors mixed from my primaries.
mixing colors on both the palette and the paper. This first wash I connected shapes as I went, painting wet into wet.
set my light areas. Notice that the only places with saturated
color are the sky (blue) and the foreground flowers (yellow). The
rest of the areas are painted with mixed or toned-down colors.

Final
Foreground and details: Using even more pigment, I added the dark shapes, defined the foreground and painted the final details by working
around my light- and middle-value shapes. I made the darks by mixing varying combinations of the red, blue and yellow paint with very little water.
With a clean, damp brush, I softened edges where needed, thus completing Early Spring Joy in Triad Colors (watercolor on paper, 10x14). WA
CONSISTENT VALUES, VARIED COLORS

Early Spring Joy (left: watercolor on paper, 10x14) is
an earlier painting of the the same landscape as
seen in Early Spring Joy in Triad Colors (above). I used
the same base triad for Early Spring Joy as I did for
the demo painting, along with Daniel Smith
transparent yellow oxide, sap green (for mixing
dark values) and carbazole violet, as well as the
Holbein opaque colors lavender and horizon blue.
The demo painting is missing my signature colors,
but because I followed my value sketch for both
works, they share the same value structure.
Award-winning watercolorist Brienne M Brown (briennembrown.com) is a signature member of the National Watercolor
Society, Western Federation of Watercolor Societies, Pennsylvania Watercolor Society and Utah Watercolor Society. Her
work and writing have appeared in several art publications, and she teaches workshops and online lessons.
COLOR Confidence
WE ASKED FOUR TOP WATERCOLOR ARTISTS —JEAN HAINES, ZL FENG,
MARK MEHAFFEY AND DONNA ZAGOTTA—TO SHARE THE DISCOVERIES
THEY’VE MADE ON THE ROAD TO COLOR CONFIDENCE.
By Anne Hevener

“If one could only catch that true color of nature—
the very thought of it drives me mad,” said watercolor master Andrew Wyeth,
expressing a color obsession to which many an artist can relate. If handling the
complexities of color feels overwhelming at times, you’re in good company.
ABOVE
Jean Haines’ Autumn Hedgerow Figuring out how to manage the peculiarities of color behavior requires a famil-
(watercolor on paper, 15x22½), iarity with basic color theory, but developing an assured and personal approach
shows the influence of the to color is mainly the result of extensive trial and error. That’s why we went to
changing seasons on her color four watermedia experts to seek their guidance and road-tested advice for how
selection. “This piece combines
to work with color more effectively—and confidently.
color with dramatic textural
effects to depict the energy and
life in what might otherwise be How would you describe your of content and technique—and isn’t
viewed as an everyday subject,” personal approach to color? always decided before executing the
she says. DONNA ZAGOTTA: My approach to painting. Sometimes I work from a
OPPOSITE color is intuitive, arbitrary, personal “set” palette, meaning one that’s
Donna Zagotta’s Your Song and non-representational. I find color determined beforehand. Other times
(watercolor on paper, 14¼x14¼) inspiration in the work of Édouard I let the flow of the work determine the
features predominantly warm Vuillard, Henri Matisse and Richard color direction. Occasionally I create a
and muted colors that are
Diebenkorn—master painters who color problem to solve—using a color
contrasted with complementary,
cool and muted colors. “The were more focused on expressing I seldom use or keeping the painting
lightest color value and most color and spatial ideas than in render- tonal as opposed to pushing color satu-
intense color,” Zagotta says. “is ing the particulars of subject matter. ration. Each work is different and
the small bit of yellow, close to requires a different course.
the figure’s face. The dramatic
blacks move the eye around the
MARK MEHAFFEY: My approach to
painting, leading to the focal color depends on the concept that’s JEAN HAINES: My approach to color
point—the figure’s face.” driving my painting—both in terms is strongly influenced by nature,
Hopefully, Passing Through
(watercolor on paper, 33x25),
by Mark Mehaffey, features a
complementary relationship.
“This is a cool temperature
dominant painting. Swimming
over that cool blue oak tree are
orange and red-orange fish,” he
says. “I used those warm colors
at full saturation, or full intensity,
to bring them forward visually.”
act of mixing to be both fun and medi-

tative. I know I could save time by
using more colors straight from the
tube, but I think my mixtures are more
visually exciting than tube colors.
HAINES: My mood is the first consider-

ation when determining a palette. I’m
a firm believer in color-therapy, so—
apart from selecting shades that will
tell the story of the subject I’m paint-
ing—I also choose shades that work
for me. I might select reds to enhance
energy levels or relaxing shades for
times when I’m overly busy and want
to calm my soul.
What do new painters often get

wrong with color? Is there an
essential lesson that can help artists
“turn the corner”?
ZAGOTTA: I believe it’s essential to
first master value, color value and
color intensity. Different color values
and color intensities produce different
moods in a painting. One way to train
the eye to see and mix values is to
paint (not purchase) a gray scale com-
especially the changing seasons. I feel based loosely on the 12-hue or prised of 10 evenly spaced steps—
new energy from the colors of spring, Munsell color wheel. I find that I go from white to black—using your pre-
which always seem so vibrant after the through phases in which I’m attracted ferred medium. That becomes your
long winter months. The soft pastels of to certain colors or color combinations tool for seeing, mixing and checking
summer are peaceful. The gorgeous that I haven’t used before. I often the values of the colors you see out in
golds and reds in autumn enrich the experiment with those colors in a the world, the colors you mix on your
soul. In winter, I find myself fascinated number of paintings. In my recent palette and the color values you put in
in making cool textural effects. works, such as Your Song (page 24) your paintings. A second trick is to
and Crossed Hands (opposite), for create a chart of five to 10 values of
What do you consider when instance, I’m using a dominance of every color on the color wheel.
determining your palette? dusty reds, red-oranges and yellows Color intensity refers to the bright-
ZAGOTTA: On my working palette, with contrasting cool gray-greens and ness of a color on a scale from full
I find it extremely helpful to have a blue-greens, along with rich blacks intensity (a color at its brightest) to
variety of tube primaries and second- and bright white. neutral (a color at its most muted). To
aries in light, medium and dark train your eye to discern color inten-
values, along with some warm and MEHAFFEY: For most of my work, I use sity, create an intensity scale with
cool neutrals, plus black and white. a split-primary palette: a warm and a these four intensities of each of the
When choosing a color palette for a cool of each primary color plus a few colors on the color wheel: bright,
painting, I think about color harmo- add-ins. I can use these six colors to semi-muted, muted and neutral. It’s
nies (analogous colors) and color make all of my secondaries and any amazing to discover that many colors
contrasts (complementary colors) neutrals that I might need. I find the on the color wheel are difficult to

I’d been trained to look outside of myself—to my
subject—when choosing colors for my paintings. contrast you could have. If you want
the relationship between shapes to be
I’ve been retraining myself ever since to look less important, you’d place close or sim-
within for my color choices. ilar values side by side.
When teaching, I find that students
—DONNA ZAGOTTA have problems transferring the color
they see into a relative value. Most
tube yellows, for example, are close to
recognize in their semi-muted, muted value is the most important. Because a middle value, not light. A lot of reds
and neutralized intensities. the human eye can see minute differ- and most blues are really darker than
ences in value, value is how we perceive a mid-tone. It takes practice to see
MEHAFFEY: Color has four components: the difference between objects in our this and then a lot of work to be able
hue (the actual color), temperature world. Here’s one simplified example of to put this knowledge into practice.
(how warm or cool the color is), value how this applies to painting: To make
(how light or dark the color is), and something more important, increase HAINES: When we’re first starting out
intensity (how bright or dull the color the value contrast. A placement of as beginners on our art journey, the
is). Of these components, I believe black next to white would be the most vast number of shades to choose from
Donna Zagotta
designed Crossed
Hands (watercolor
on paper, 10x10) with
three basic color
values: a light, a mid-
value and a dark.
“The intensities are
semi-muted with
some pops of brights
used as accents,”
she says.
TO CHOOSE COLOR, JUST BREAK IT DOWN
By ZL FENG
When considering color selection, I recommend as a first across an assortment of different blues, such as cobalt
step that you consider a sorting question: What color am blue, along with some lavender, verditer blue and lilac
I aiming for, and is it a warm or cool tone? Addressing this permanent (Holbein colors). I took the painting layer by
simple question has helped me take the initial steps to layer and trusted my intuition. As I continued with wash
determine the colors of my palette. There are easily more applications and layering, I adapted the colors to get the
than 100 different colors available for watercolor artists to fine details I desired.
use these days, but for me, it can be overwhelming to face I generally prepare three palettes with which to paint
so many choices at the outset of painting. This is why I like my watercolors, especially for my landscapes: one palette
to break down the choices into smaller decisions. Take, for of light-tone colors, one for dark-tone colors and one that
example, my painting Morning Creek (above, left). When I I use for my splashing, pouring and spreading to manipu-
started painting it, I had a basic vision in mind. I knew that late the paint colors already there. To paint River Autumn
I was likely going to use a lot of grays and light blue in the (above, right), I used the light palette first, then the dark
beginning stages. So, for my palette, I selected cool tones tone palette, followed by the final palette to mix the colors.

LEFT TO RIGHT can be daunting, and we’re overly
Morning Creek (watercolor eager to put brush to paper without
on paper, 40x32) by ZL Feng considering whether the color is a
good choice for the subject. Color-
River Autumn (watercolor
on paper, 30x38) by ZL Feng matching before you begin a
composition is a great help. Making
sure you have the exact shade of blue
or violet for a certain flower, for
example, will make all the difference
in your results.
Have you had a breakthrough

moment that changed your
understanding of color?
ZAGOTTA: When I started experiment-
ing with the use of personal, intuitive
color, rather than trying to replicate
the colors in my subject matter, it was
a breakthrough. I found painting with
nonlocal colors difficult because I’d
never thought of color as something
emanating from inside. I’d been
trained to look outside of myself—to
my subject—when choosing colors for
my paintings. I’ve been retraining
myself ever since to look within for
my color choices.
MEHAFFEY: I’ve long understood that

an artist’s use of color can affect the
mood of a painting, so I always adjust
both intensity and value contrast to
make whichever colors I select work
for a specific painting. I developed
the ability to adjust any given color
quickly, on the fly, after a couple years
of plein-air painting. Because I try to
limit the weight of supplies I take into
the field, I reduced my palette to just a
warm and a cool of each primary plus
black and white. Using only these
eight tubes to mix practically any-
thing the painting needed taught me
a ton about how we see color—and
how to mix whatever it is I need.
We all know that we won’t be satisfied with every work HAINES: I was once told, years ago,
we paint, so I recommend using the first stage of layering that until you can see the color in
and wash application to assess how you feel about the
painting’s direction. If I don’t feel happy with the results at
this stage, I can do one of two things: I can stop and start
again; or, I can set the painting aside for awhile, and later, Observe. Look for the
if I’m inspired, finish it. There are occasions when simply unusual hints of color,
allowing for some distance makes me more satisfied with
a piece as it is. and don’t always
There’s no secret formula, unfortunately, for figuring accept what you first
out color aside from practice and experimentation.
Eventually, however, you find a an approach to color that see as the only option.
works for you. —JEAN HAINES
OPPOSITE
The Silent City (watercolor on
paper, 15x11), by Jean Haines,
depicts the cathedral in the
shadows, you aren’t yet a real artist. I thought “looked right.” But from ancient city of Mdina in Malta.
I thought the artist who told me this that moment on, my work changed “Seeing new sights opens the
imagination,” she says, “leading
was joking. Then, I moved to Dubai, and seemed to carry more life in it. to art that carries a sense of
and one day, there it was; I saw it. The moral of this story is this: adventure in color exploration.”
Hints of pink and orange in a shadow Observe. Look for the unusual hints
on the ground. Until then, I’d only of color, and don’t always accept what BELOW
Super Structure (watercolor on
painted shadows with colors that you first see as the only option.
gessoed paper, 22x30), by Mark
Mehaffey, features what the artist
Any other advice for how to build calls “visual vibration,” an effect
one’s color confidence? created by placing color
Don’t always reach for ZAGOTTA: Everyone has an inherent complements or near
complements (as in this piece)
the same tubes of color. sense of how to put things together in side by side in a painting. “My use
a personal way, and that also applies of the red-orange to surround
Grab something new to putting together colors in our those smaller shapes of blue set
up just such a vibration,” says
and see where that paintings. Look at the colors you’re
Mehaffey. “The painting has a
naturally drawn to—in your own ward-
new color takes you. robe or home decor—to see if you can
warm temperature dominance
and those little accents of cooler
—MARK MEHAFFEY detect clear preferences. Are the values blue add interest.”

MEET THE
ARTISTS
Born and raised in
Shanghai, artist ZL Feng
(radford.edu/~zfeng)
painted in a variety of
media, including pastel, oil
and egg tempera, before
choosing his favorite:
watercolor. Feng’s land-
scape paintings are
inspired by the countryside
around his home in South-
west Virginia. His portrait
work is often inspired by
the people of Tibet and the
Native Americans of New
Mexico, among others.
Award-winning artist Mark

Mehaffey (markmehaffey
fineart.com) has earned
numerous distinctions,
including Dolphin Fellow
status in the American
Watercolor Society. He’s the
author of the instructional
book, Creative Watercolor
Workshop, published in
2005 and re-released in
2013, and is a popular arts
juror, workshop instructor
and lecturer.
Michigan artist Donna

Zagotta (donnazagotta.
com) is known for painting
watercolors in a style that
explores that space
between realism and
abstraction. The award-
winning artist and teacher
has exhibited her work
extensively both nationally
of those colors predominantly light, other. Knowing this will help with and internationally. Her
mid-value, or dark? Are they primarily mixing more or less saturated color. It paintings have also been
bright and bold, quiet and softly will also help you decide which colors featured in numerous arts
muted or colored neutrals? These are to select when mixing neutrals. publications.
important clues for expressing your- Experimentation is always helpful.
self confidently with color. Ultimately, Don’t always reach for the same tubes Jean Haines (jeanhaines.
com) is a celebrated U.K.
who you are as an artist is always of color. Grab something new and see watercolorist of interna-
found in what you love. where that new color takes you. tional renown. She’s a
sought-after instructor and
MEHAFFEY: Learn to see which way col- HAINES: Be brave. Be unique. There are the author of several
ors “lean” when you open the cap on a so many ways to paint the same sub- instructional books on
tube of paint. You’ll be able to deter- ject, but always allow your inner artist watercolor that are avail-
able in many languages.
mine, for example, if the yellow you to shine. Remember, the way you paint Haines serves often as a
chose is warm (leaning toward is your personal identity. Aim to make juror and speaker for
orange) or cool (leaning toward a mark rather than disappear into the watercolor organizations
green). All color leans one way or the crowd with your work. WA throughout the world.
AN AMERICAN IN
PARIS
For Alex Hillkurtz, life in Paris opened the door to the joys of watercolor,
on-site sketching and a growing creative community.
by Christine Proskow
“A
successful painting for me
is one that strikes up a
conversation with the
viewer,” says American
artist Alex Hillkurtz, who currently
lives and paints in Paris. “It’s an
energy transfer. I want to convey the
mood of a place but also leave things
for the viewer to discover. A success-
ful painting should look good from
across the room and also six inches
away. Like your favorite song, there
should be enough that keeps you com-
ing back again and again.”
Employing an intriguing play of
light and shadow interspersed
through tranparent washes of color
and a masterful expression of line,
Hillkurtz’s paintings captivate our
attention and elicit our desire to
return to them and discover more.
Since relocating to Paris from Los
Angeles five years ago, Hillkurtz has
derived his artistic inspiration from
the remarkable City of Light itself.
Struck by the city’s magnificent
beauty, its architecture and cafés, he
imbues his stunning ink and water-
color paintings with a sense of
timelessness and energetic vibrancy.
OPPOSITE
Above the Summer
(watercolor and ink
on paper, 15x11)
RIGHT
Café du Métro (watercolor
and ink on paper, 15x11)
BUILDING CHARACTER
When I personify buildings,
my paintings seem to take
on a new life. They’re eas-
ier to sketch because every
little line, every brush-
stroke is infused with the
energy of the character
that I’m imagining.
The view depicted in
Café Cassette (right) has
become iconic for me.
The building plows into
the street like the bow of
a ship, an unstoppable
force on this sharp corner.
It’s clearly a character,
infused with energy. When
I paint this café, it takes on
the personality of French
actor Vincent Cassel—spry
and charismatic, wiry and
muscular, a whimsically
unpredictable twinkle in
the eye. There’s a boldness
to it, but it’s not showy.
The edifice in Morning
Glow (opposite) has a
majesty about it. This
building has gravitas,
stately elegance and
layers of intricacies. I pic-
ture Catherine Deneuve
or perhaps Dame Judi
Dench. The building is
gorgeous and proud,
lofty yet grounded.
—Alex Hillkurtz
“The more
I paint and look
for interesting
buildings ..., the
more I think of
buildings as
characters.”
Café Cassette (watercolor
—ALEX HILLKURTZ and ink on paper, 15x11)

Hillkurtz—a successful Hollywood
storyboard artist turned fine artist—
is attuned to the art of keeping the
viewer engaged. “The more that I
paint and look for interesting build-
ings or interesting scenes, the more I
think about buildings as characters,”
says Hillkurtz, who brings to his
painting methods a well-honed under-
standing of visual storytelling, “I
think that’s because I’ve spent so long
storyboarding and drawing charac-
ters,” he says, referring to his 25-year
career in the film industry. “So it’s not
just a building to me or an interesting
balcony or roof or whatever.” By form-
ing a deeper connection with his
subject—interpreting the buildings
that he paints as suggesting an old
man, for instance, or perhaps an ele-
gant movie star—the artist captures
tones of feeling that, in turn, hold the
viewer’s attention (see Building
Character, opposite). Thus, even with-
out displaying an obvious narrative
element in his paintings, there’s a
subtle emotive value that’s imparted.
Segue to
Watercolor
Hillkurtz’s trajectory into fine art as a
second career unfolded rapidly, if ser-
endipitously. Born in England, and
raised in the California Bay Area
where his father, a physicist, accepted
a position, Hillkurtz remembers his
love of drawing at a young age—a
true passion that continues for the
artist to this day. “I was the kid in
class, scribbling away and drawing
spaceships and dragons,” he says. His
interest also extended to movies,
leading him to study film production
in college. While spending a semester
in England, he began experimenting
with watercolor, inspired by England’s
lush, green landscape; however, the
greatest influence on Hillkurtz’s
attraction to the medium was his
firsthand viewing of original water-
color paintings by English artists
J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) and John
Constable (1776–1837). “I fell in love
with those artists,” he says.
Morning Glow (watercolor After graduating from film school,
and ink on paper, 22½x15
Hillkurtz eventually landed a job at
a visual-effects company, which led to
the beginnings of his storyboard work.
WORKSHOP PERKS
Hillkurtz finds teaching work-
shops especially enriching and
rewarding. “I love teaching
what I’ve discovered about
painting and sketching,” he
says. “My goal is to help make
my students better painters.
I want them to take what I’m
teaching and make it their
own. And the workshops are so
much fun. If one is in Paris, for
instance, we’ll start in a café
before we paint outside
together. Each city that I travel
to has its own personality, and
each group also has its own
personality. I know that every-
body comes from different
backgrounds and has different
levels of experience, but when
we all start to paint and draw
together, it’s just a fun process.
I’ve made lifelong friends
because of this.”
other creative opportunities that

served to energize him and propel his
developing fine-art career. “It was def-
initely an unexpected turn in my life,”
Hillkurtz says. “Being in Paris, I can’t
help but feel the connection to all
those who’ve come before me. There’s
so much history; so many of my
heroes have walked these streets and
painted these views.” The artist was
further buoyed by the opportunity
to meet regularly online with artists
from around the globe.
ABOVE
Fast forward a few decades to Hillkurtz’s incredible success
Watching the
Wheels (watercolor as a Hollywood storyboard artist, with his ascent in the Plein Air in Paris
and ink on paper,
15x11)
field kicking the artist’s career in high-gear. A pivotal point Painting en plein air greatly appeals
emerged unexpectedly when Hillkurtz’s wife, Tiffany, an to Hillkurtz. “I do that a lot, and it’s
OPPOSITE animation film editor, was tapped by her studio to relocate so great to get out,” he says. In the
Paris Light to their Paris office. “We thought about it for about one-and- warmer spring and summer months,
(watercolor and ink a-half seconds,” Hillkurtz says, “and said ‘Yes, absolutely!’ ” he’ll visit a park, find a place along
on paper, 114⁄5x8¼)
With that unexpected turning point, Hillkurtz’s career focus the Seine River, or set himself up on
soon shifted to an entirely new direction. a sidewalk. “Sometimes the sidewalks
While his early years in Paris were still mostly focused on can get a little busy,” he says, “but
his storyboard work, including related travel to Hollywood there are enough places where you
while tending various projects, Hillkurtz also initiated can set up an easel, or just work with
a personal endeavor: “When I came to Paris, I knew that a board on your lap for a few hours
I wanted to sketch this city,” he says. “There was just some- and not bother anyone.”
thing about being here. Eventually, I met some other local His first objective is to scout out his
sketchers, and we would sketch together on the weekends.” subject matter; the potential sites in
Hillkurtz’s sketching pursuits eventually evolved into Paris are abundant. “If I step out my
his reacquaintance with watercolor and a succession of door and walk for five minutes in any
LEFT
Summer Rain
(watercolor and ink
on paper, 15x11)
OPPOSITE
Ascent (watercolor
and ink on paper,
253⁄5x19⅔)
some interesting perspec-

tives on a few subjects.”
Hillkurtz waits for the
best lighting for his sub-
ject, always ready to come
back to a scene when the
light is more favorable.
“Perhaps the early morn-
ing light or late afternoon
sunlight is going to
show off my subject in
a better way,” Hillkurtz
says. Morning Glow
(page 35) demonstrates
the importance of that
consideration, the por-
trayal of light and shadow
dramatically defining
the building’s form and
impacting the mood. “Of
course, I always have my
sketchbook with me,” he
says, “so if I see something
interesting, I try to do a
quick sketch. I also take
a lot of reference photos
with my phone.”
To begin a painting,
Hillkurtz sometimes
proceeds directly with
a wet-into-wet wash, but
he often first sketches
his composition onto his
paper in permanent black
ink, designing the sub-
direction,” he says, “there are little painted. ” Hillkurtz has even painted ject in the most dynamic way via the
lanes that are interesting or cafés that the view from his balcony, as seen in “language of cinema.” He explains,
gently spill out onto the sidewalk, or Café Cassette (page 34) “From my tiny “I tend to translate how my subject
I can look down some of these grand balcony, I can look down the street would look on a movie screen, so
boulevards that seem to go on forever. and see three or four different cafés, I think about the composition in those
You’re spoiled for riches in this city. and they’re all just gorgeous,” he says. terms. What’s the best angle from
Every corner is seemingly made to be “That high-angle view also gives me which to see something? What’s the
most dynamic way to depict a certain
café or a certain building?” He’s careful
not to overdo his ink drawing. “I want
“There’s so much history; so many to be sure that I stop before I think I’m
of my heroes have walked these streets ready,” he says, “since I can’t take the
ink away.” He also prefers to keep his
and painted these views.” lines loose and somewhat scribbled.
—ALEX HILLKURTZ “Keeping my ink sketch light gives

More Online!
For a step-by-step demonstration of Hillkurtz’s painting
process, go to artistsnetwork.com/go/hillkurtz-demo.
it a lot more life,” he says. “I want to reflections in the street and push col-
emphasize just the darkest parts of ors to make the painting be a little bit Global Community
the shadows with my black ink.” expressionist or impressionistic. That The opportunities that Hillkurtz
Next, he applies an initial wash mingling of color makes everything has experienced since embarking on
of wet-into-wet watercolor. “I’ll let feel really warm.” his fine art career are phenomenal.
those colors bleed all over the place,” Hillkurtz’s many years as a story- Posting his paintings and sketches on
he says. Once the initial wash dries, board artist have accustomed him to Instagram and Facebook enables him
he goes back in, adding finer details composing and painting quickly. “But to connect with artists and art enthu-
and bringing everything into focus. there’s no deadline when I’m painting siasts worldwide, forming a network
“When I go in later with additional for myself,” he says. “I can do things like of friends that serve as resources
layers, the first layer shines through,” laying down an initial wash very fast, for each other. “It happened pretty
he says. “I’m kind of in love with that but I also can change my pace to slow quickly, and it happened early on,”
technique. You can paint those great down for details and finishing touches.” Hillkurtz says.
Many other possibilities have sur-
faced for the artist, who continues to
keep a toe in the storyboard world.
Traveling and exhibiting his work are
powerful, stimulating highlights, and
he’s particularly happy to share his
painting and sketching techniques
through workshops in various coun-
tries. “The most rewarding part is
connecting with fellow artists around
the world,” says Hillkurtz. “There’s an
amazing community of creatives, and
art is our common language.” WA
California-based freelance writer-editor

Christine Proskow enjoys writing about
art and artists.
Meet the Artist

Alex Hillkurtz (alexhillkurtzart.com)
was born in England and raised in
California, where
he studied film
production
at Chapman
University. As a
storyboard artist,
his feature-film
credits include
Argo, Almost
Famous and It’s
Complicated.
After working in Hollywood for 25
years, he relocated to Paris in 2015.
He’s a member of the California
Watercolor Association and the
Urban Sketchers of Paris. Hillkurtz’s
work has been exhibited in numerous
galleries, and in 2018 he was awarded
Best International at the MiArs exhi-
bition in Milan, Italy, “Milano, ti amo
in tutte le lingue del mondo” (Milan,
I love you in all languages of the
world). Hillkurtz teaches workshops in
cities around the globe.
ABOVE
Arches with
Shopping Carts
(25½x34)
RIGHT
Chocolate Cake
(25½x25½)
Of Mindfulness
and Reality
Painstakingly paring down compositions to essentials with dramatic light
and meticulously controlled shadow color, STEPHAN HOFFPAUIR creates
paintings that elevate our awareness of the world around us.
by Robert K. Carsten

“I THINK OF MY WORK as a series of commentaries on the subject matter. I’m asking a viewer to look more closely
modern American life as seen by a particular artist at at a space or thing he or she would otherwise ignore. I
a particular place at a particular point in time,” says think some people resent being asked to do this but others
California-based artist Stephan Hoffpauir. “Whenever are excited by it. Many of the things I paint I don’t per-
I show my work to someone for the first time, the first sonally like, would never buy or would never eat, but by
question is ‘How long did it take to paint that?’ The taking the time to fastidiously paint every detail, I hope to
irony of photorealism is that the amount of time spent encourage the viewer to consider some aspect of modern
producing a painting directly correlates to the banality of life more carefully than she or he ordinarily would.”
The Groundwork
Formerly a practicing architect and for decades a free- so I turned to teaching. Though this new career was reward-
lance architectural illustrator, early on, Hoffpauir became ing, I really longed to get back to painting.”
intrigued by the works of anonymous 19th-century student Corresponding to his experience rendering elevations,
draftsmen at the École des Beaux-Arts, in Paris. These Hoffpauir found himself attracted to imagery of flat
artists translated neoclassical architectural fantasies into walls parallel to the picture plane with shadows playing
exquisite renderings in watercolor, many of them highly across their surfaces. Arches with Shopping Carts (page
detailed elevations. “Their work made me aware of the mag- 40) is a prime example in subject and presentation with
nitude of the medium’s possibilities and showed me how to its compressed space, play of light and shadow, and its
use light and shadow to make two-dimensional works look exactness in detail. “Every brick was painted individually
extremely three-dimensional,” says Hoffpauir. Eventually and required multiple layers of color,” says Hoffpauir.
he wrote and illustrated the book, Architectural Illustration “I thought I’d go insane. But after that painting, I found
in Watercolor (Whitney Library of Design, 1989). “By then highly repetitive work to be mindful and meditative, even
I’d begun seeing the world as a series of photorealistic enjoyable.” This series evolved into one of grocery stores in
paintings,” he recalls. “With the advent of digital illustra- suburban landscapes, in turn evolving into a series about
tion software, my illustration work eventually dried up, what was inside those stores.

Alluring Color
Given his subject matter, Hoffpauir church—a structure unseen in the painting except as
finds photographic references a reflection in the spoon and saucer.
extremely useful. “A friend of mine Referring to the broad palette of exuberantly chromatic
once described my paintings as ‘more color in Cakes (opposite), Hoffpauir says, “Grocery store
real than real.’ That’s what I love displays are designed to be visually enticing and seductive.
about working from photos,” says They’re shiny, colorful and speak of abundance. They seem
Hoffpauir. “Using Photoshop, I can to scream, ‘Paint me!’ Quite often they’re almost surreal,
alter composition, adjust values especially in baked-goods sections.” This subject, previously
and exaggerate colors. I wouldn’t explored in depth by one of his favorite artists, Wayne
have seen those blues and violets Thiebaud, initially caused Hoffpauir conflicting thoughts.
in Chocolate Cake (page 41) if I was “I wasn’t trying to copy Thiebaud’s work or to pay homage,
painting from life.” Photos also I simply saw something that grabbed my attention. I still had
allow him to examine and record doubts about whether I should paint this subject, whether
fine details. For example, across the it would be too derivative. But then I thought of paintings
street from the Parisian café depicted of crucifixions from the Renaissance. Artists didn’t think
in Chocolate Cake is a 17th-century that maybe they shouldn’t paint them because Fra Angelico
ABOVE
Cakes
(25½x34)
RIGHT
Takeout Box
With Tangerine
(25½x25½)
ABOVE
Bananas
(24x36) had already done so.” Realizing that
LEFT
his version of the cakes would differ HOFFPAUIR
Woman at from Thiebaud’s freed Hoffpauir ON SHADOWS
Window from his misgivings: “So I gave Edward Hopper used shadows
(25½x 25½) myself permission to paint them to signal the time of day, the
and, ultimately, am glad I did.” season, the position of the light
Expert handling of gradient source, the light temperature
and whether the light was nat-
washes is evinced in Takeout Box With Tangerine ural or artificial. He did this by
(page 43), a painting for which the artist making conscious choices—by
arranged both the composition and lighting. making strategic color and
“While most of my still life paintings are based value decisions.
directly on things I’ve seen in a grocery store, Since shadow is so important
occasionally I become intrigued with an object to my work, I pay a lot of atten-
tion to its color. I never render a
or feel the urge to work with a particular color,” shadow completely gray. I use
he says. “In those cases I set up a still life in four colors in a specific sequence:
the traditional way and photograph it. I loved burnt umber, Winsor violet,
that saturated orange against the blue-green ultramarine and Antwerp blue.
background.” He placed the objects on a sheet If a shadow is very light, I’ll
of glass, which created a subtle, almost double sometimes lay down the burnt
exposure effect in some of the reflections, par- umber first and then layer the
ultramarine on top. Since ultra-
ticularly noticeable in the upside down pagoda. marine doesn’t dissolve in the
A profusion of yellows in Bananas (above), water, you can see between its
conveys Hoffpauir’s consummate skill in using tiny solid particles to the warm
a limited palette. “It was an image too beauti- burnt umber underneath. It’s
ful not to paint,” he declares, adding, “I feel important not to mix those two
I pretty much know what the colors in my pal- colors together in a wash, other-
wise the result will look like soot.
ette will do. Usually I don’t test the colors first. If the shadow is a gradient, I’ll
Instead, I plot out color sequences in my head.” usually make it warmer in the
lighter areas and cooler in the
darker ones.
Process Particulars When there are multiple light
Hoffpauir’s work originates with a subject sources rather than a single
source, shadows can almost be
that grabs his attention—usually something nonexistent. That’s when I rely
with striking light, shadow, color and pattern. more on changes in hue and satu-
“I don’t choose my subject; it chooses me. ration rather than changes in light
There’s always a very emotional response,” and shadow to create contrast.
ABOVE
Olives, Peppers,
Artichokes
(18x36)
RIGHT
Mixed Fruit
(24x36)
FAR RIGHT
Wine Bottles
(24x36)
he says. Using an iPhone, Hoffpauir intended to show much more of the café. “I kept zooming
takes several photos. Later, he spends in, and the more I did, the better the composition got but
hours creating a composite image in the more out of focus it became,” he says. “I couldn’t clearly
Photoshop and then puts the resulting see the cottage outside the window.” The artist altered the
image away for several weeks. Over the figure somewhat and, looking through his file of images,
next few months, Hoffpauir returns found another Victorian cottage as a substitution, similar to
to it periodically, making refinements the original but in better condition and with perfect lighting.
to the composition. “Inevitably, I end “There’s always a struggle between what I want to include
up cropping more and more. There’s and the aspect ratio (ratio of height to width) that I want
usually some object or detail I’m trying to work with,” says Hoffpauir. When I first started painting
to hold onto, but ultimately, I just have seriously, my reference photos were Kodachrome slides
to let it go,” he says. In composing with an aspect ratio of 2:3. That’s still the ratio I prefer, but
Woman at Window (page 44), Hoffpauir it ultimately proved to be too limiting. I now also use ratios

of 1:1 and 3:4. There were a number of photos I wanted print serves as both a preparatory drawing and a color
to use as paintings, but I couldn’t get them to work with study. He tapes the print to a sheet of 140-lb. cold-pressed
any of my standard ratios. Then I realized the solution was watercolor paper that has been stretched on a large wooden
to make them very short and wide. This had the added board. He then creates a line drawing on the watercolor
advantage of giving the paintings a cinematic quality.” paper by placing a sheet of Saral graphite transfer paper
With its panoramic ratio of 1:2, Olives, Peppers, Artichokes between his painting surface and the print, then tracing
(opposite) is a fine example. Since the artist only sparingly the image onto the print with an H pencil. He retraces any
uses gouache for long, thin lines and finds masking fluid too lines that might be washed away, using very light pressure.
difficult to use when a high degree of control is required, he “Since tracing is a very boring task, I don’t do it all at once,”
exactingly painted around the white of the paper to create says Hoffpauir. “Instead, I trace for about an hour, then
its countless reflections of light. “Doing those highlights was paint what I’ve traced over the course of a day or two.”
so intense that after a while I couldn’t easily tell how they He applies watercolor to the dry paper in a series of thin
were supposed to look. But the most difficult part was actu- washes, allowing each wash to dry before applying the
ally in the early stages of composing the image—mixing and next—and often using a hair dryer to speed the process.
matching elements from several photos,” he says. Washes usually contain two or three colors. To create neu-
Once Hoffpauir finalizes a composition, he has a service trals, he usually applies warm colors first, then cool ones
bureau print the photo composite on 20-lb. bond paper. on top. “I paint each area to completion before moving to
The bureau’s large-format inkjet printer is able to run a an adjacent area,” he says. “A large painting with a lot of
copy that matches the size of his intended painting. This detail will typically take about 30 to 45 days to complete.”
Penchant for Pattern
“A friend once noted that there was no place for the eye
to rest in one of my paintings. It was then that I realized Artist’s Toolkit
I had gradually been letting pattern overtake the negative SURFACE: Arches 140-lb.
space,” says Hoffpauir. “In my current paintings, I want the cold-pressed watercolor
viewer to feel a little overstimulated, to be swept away in paper
waves of patterns.” WATERCOLORS:
Mixed Fruit (page 46) and Wine Bottles (page 46–47) Winsor & Newton
both attest to Hoffpauir’s affinity for all-over pattern Professional:
designs. The relatively shallow space of the former, similar • burnt umber
in concept to an architectural elevation, can be contrasted • burnt sienna
with the dramatic, deeper perspective of the latter. • yellow ochre
Speaking of Mixed Fruit, he says, “Besides the idea that • cadmium yellow
someone would go through the trouble to cut up all that • cadmium orange
fruit, I was drawn to the colors and those shiny plastic con- • cadmium red
tainers. I was also intrigued by the irony of using something • quinacridone red
so synthetic to market and sell something so natural. It’s an • Winsor violet
expression of my broader interest in consumerism as sub- • Winsor green
ject matter.” For his complex and eye-catching Wine Bottles, • ultramarine
the artist returned to the display many times over several • Antwerp blue
months, garnering reference photos. “I always struggle • Prussian blue
with whether figures are distracting or beneficial to a com- • sepia
position,” says Hoffpauir. “In this case, the woman with the • Payne’s gray
red ‘B’ on her sweatshirt and the two other figures added
Daniel Smith: carmine
interest and served to break up the pattern.”
With its low vantage point, Green Chairs (below) is a BRUSHES:
tour de force of design, pattern and execution. The setting • Raphaël 8404 round
is the famous open-air coffee shop, Café du Monde, in the kolinsky watercolor
French Quarter of New Orleans—a city that continually brushes, typically
inspires Hoffpauir, who was born and raised there. “My Nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4
photo included people’s faces, but I felt they were a distrac- • less expensive round
tion,” he says. “This painting has so many things I love: the synthetic or natural-fiber
color green, shiny surfaces, patterns—and I like the way all brushes for big washes
the feet play across the floor. It’s almost as if the chairs and

ABOVE
Rainbow
(24x36)
OPPOSITE
Green Chairs
(16x36)
feet are dancing together. Then there’s Meet the Artist
the beautifully crystalline light with dark An architect and architectural
shadows, characteristic of an October illustrator by trade, Stephan
afternoon along the Gulf Coast.” Hoffpauir transitioned to creating
A recent evolution from his grocery-store subject matter photorealistic paintings in
is his Paved Landscape series involving the stores’ parking watercolor. Essentially self-taught,
lots and exemplified by Rainbow (above) “I imagine it he has been painting for 30 years.
“I picked up tips along the way
as a 21st century reinterpretation of Dutch landscape from how-to books and magazines.
painting,” he says. “The dominant landscape of my child- I credit my parents for this. If
hood was a vast suburban parking lot, and I really want they wanted to know how to do
to explore that. I see painting as a way to hold onto and something, they got a book on the subject and threw
celebrate memory, although it might be more correct to say themselves into it,” he explains. Hoffpauir’s paintings
it’s about incorporating memory into the present, a way of have been shown in several museums and have garnered
many awards. Since 2003, he has been teaching at the
uniting the two.” WA
Academy of Art University, San Francisco. Hoffpauir’s
work is widely collected and is represented by Cole Pratt
Multimedia artist Robert K. Carsten (robertcarsten.com) has Gallery (coleprattgallery.com), in New Orleans, La.,
written numerous articles on art and artists. where he has had numerous solo exhibitions.
A Point of Departure
W hen Amy Park was in art school, one of her

teachers told her she shouldn’t bother becom-
ing a painter. She couldn’t paint, he explained.
Startled and hurt, but determined, she persevered.
Then, as she neared completion of her MFA at the
Park is an unlikely renegade, but these past stories indi-
cate it may simply be a part of her creative process. Within
a few months of gaining her MFA, she had a show in
Chicago and, from there, she slowly built a reputation and
a consistent practice.
University of Wisconsin, Park’s teachers debated if she Now living deep in the hills of upstate New York, Park
should be allowed to graduate when she surprised them by creates watercolors of buildings, pools, parking lots and
radically altering her thesis work—something they only other urban spaces. Inspired by Ed Ruscha’s Los Angeles
discovered when the artist arrived at the exhibit space with projects as well as the time she has spent observing the dif-
the final pieces. Expecting a series of small oil paintings, ferent ways light reflects on various types of architecture,
they were surprised to see a number of large watercolors she produces meticulous works of environments far
instead. She never looked back. removed from her own.

AMY PARK’S WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS TRANSFORM ARCHITECTURAL
PROJECTS INTO SOMETHING SUBTLE, ABSTRACT AND UNDEFINABLE,
NOT UNLIKE THE SHIFTING MEDIUM SHE MASTERS.
by C.J. Kent
Park’s series, 1200’ (watercolor on

paper, 68x48, each panel),
approaches architecture
from a fresh perspective.
A Determined Approach New Vantage Points

Park plans her works diligently, determining the color Of course, Park’s determined method of planning
palette and proportions in small-scale efforts long before doesn’t mean that ideas never come to her suddenly or
getting to the final paper. Such discipline, dedication and lead her to unexpected approaches. Her husband, artist
determination permit her to then enter painting as a medi- Paul Villinksi, is an avid pilot, and while flying with
tation. Everything has been planned—there are no more him along the Hudson River in Manhattan one day, she
decisions to make—she’s left simply with the experience. became fascinated with the shapes and lines of the
“I love not thinking,” Park says to explain all the work she buildings she was looking at from eye level. She’d
does in plotting the design and selecting colors before let- painted architecture from the ground, admiring its
ting the process take her away. She also credits the Vedic reach into the sky, but she’d never seen skyscrapers
practice of silent mantra with keeping her centered and this way before. It was a whole new perspective, and
allowing her to approach the painting as a moving meditation. she was intrigued.
LEFT
Ruscha’s Pool No. 7
(watercolor on paper,
28x22)
OPPOSITE
1200’ #1
(watercolor on paper,
68x48)
Park grabbed her camera and started FOUNDATIONAL INSPIRATION

snapping pictures. As she looked over Park’s interest in buildings can be ascribed in part to her father’s work as
the photos later, she realized there an architect. She was also raised in Wisconsin—that part of the Midwest so
was a series there. She gathered her fundamental to American design, thanks to Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in
family for another flight soon after. the area. Inspired by the documentary, Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of
Julius Shulman, Park first began creating watercolors of iconic architectural
FAA regulations prohibited their sin- photographs in 2012. Her exhibit at Kopeikin Gallery, in Los Angeles,
gle-engine plane from flying higher “California Experimental Architecture,” deftly introduced the brilliance of
than 1,200 feet along the Manhattan pigment into Shulman’s black-and-white images. Park is clearly drawn to
skyline, providing a constraint that engage in a dialogue with earlier designers as she takes their works and
made the outlook regular and predict- transforms them for her own practice.
able. Park named the series 1200’ Watercolor is a medium known for requiring its practitioners to let go,
let pigment run and work with the chance expressions of the process, but
(2014), and though it expanded her that’s not Park’s way. In the catalog for one of Park’s shows, Annika Marie
approach to architecture, she was and Lane Relyea write, “Instead of the expected veils, mists and tints, the
already itching for new and different gentle bleeds and blottings of liquid color softly absorbed into paper
subject matter. support, Park gives us right-angled gridirons strictly articulated in blacks
and whites, an image of those implacable surfaces of the urban world
built by advanced engineering and mass armies of industrial labor.
Endurance Projects Watercolor is here made to serve a hard-hat aesthetic, providing them
means of erecting skeletal foundation and social infrastructure.”
It was a trip to the Los Angeles book- Their words point out the strange test Park puts to watercolor. Where
store, Arcana: Books on the Arts, that Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) famously captured nature with his delicate
unexpectedly provided the next big watercolors, Park insists on capturing our man-made terrain.
Unwilling to have the pieces framed, which would
divide the individual works from one another, Park
developed a magnet system to hang her series,
Ruscha’s Every Building on the Sunset Strip (watercolor
on paper, 2-½x110 feet), as a continuous work.
idea. There she found a copy of Ed Ruscha’s book of photo- as if to pull up both sides of the page and take a stroll
graphs Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1966). The photos down the paper avenue.
were taken from his car, rolling along the avenue, all Park decided she wanted to replicate the idea. She
snapped at the same height—just like Park’s flight at 1,200 scanned the book to create transparencies. Observing the
feet. The seemingly banal subject matter fascinated the art- black-and-white photographs, she allowed herself the free-
ist. Its formal features offered space for creative response. dom to shift the grays and include some soft blues, but the
Each page of Ruscha’s book depicted both sides of the monochromatic effect perfectly matched Ruscha’s work.
avenue. The top of the page showed the buildings on the She established the wide middle white space and began to
driver’s side, right-side up, while the bottom of the page paint the sidewalks, light to dark, creating a massive
showed the buildings upside down. A wide white strip immersive experience in the end. The completed paintings
down the middle allowed the viewer to position themselves were 30 inches high and 110 feet long. The artist would

work bigger if she could, but the 300-lb. Arches paper that
she prefers to paint on limits her width. A WIDE RANGE OF REFERENCE
The Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, Calif., included Park gathers inspiration from a diversity
the series in a group exhibition, “Ed Ruscha Books & Co.” of sources, as evidenced by the books that line her
Park’s work was the only non-book there, but she was studio shelves and desk. There are books about the
thrilled to be included and remembers feeling slightly awe- Bauhaus, Anni Albers, László Moholy-Nagy,
Ellsworth Kelly, Helen Frankenthaler and Fairfield
struck when she met Ed Ruscha at the after party. Porter, among others. It’s the careful attention to
Park has found gratification in these extensive, labor métier in all these artists and designers that’s
intensive series. “I’m into endurance projects,” she says. Her reflected in Park’s work––a modernist sensibility that
next series, Nine Swimming Pools and a Broken Glass, was also form is meaningful and is worth our patient regard.
inspired by Ruscha, in this case his photographs of Las
Vegas swimming pools. Typically, Ruscha works in black-
and-white photography, but for this series he used color.
Park’s series turns up the turquoise palette so that the
clear blue water and summer-warmed cement is palpable.
Some have suggested that Park isn’t painting the types
of things watercolor was meant to depict, but she dis-
misses such remarks even as she recognizes they’re meant
to be helpful. The artist knows her focus seems strange,
but doesn’t see how she could paint anything other than
what she wants to paint. “I’m just going to make whatever
I want in watercolor,” she says, looking around her studio
at the works pinned on the wall. “It will be fine.”
Park is currently working on a new series, depicting
parking lots. The subject wouldn’t attract the attention of
many artists, but Ruscha compiled them in Thirty-Four
Parking Lots in Los Angeles (1967), and now Park has turned
them into bright, fascinating watercolors. She has painted

LEFT
Alto’s Hidden
Entrance
(watercolor on
paper, 46x46)
OPPOSITE TOP
Unidentified Lot,
Reseda
(watercolor on
paper, 28x22)
OPPOSITE BOTTOM
Van Nuys Police Lot
and Public Parking
(watercolor on
paper, 28x22)
33 of the 34 parking lots in the series. The strips that mark

the space for each car have become a pattern in white to Meet the Artist
contrast with the bright individual tones of each painting. Amy Park was a recipient of the
Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program
Award in 2007–2008 and an
Between the Lines artist-in-residence at the Serenbe
What becomes evident in looking at Park’s work is that Institute in 2012. Her work has
she has mastered watercolor as a medium for abstraction. been exhibited widely in the U.S.,
including in the Morgan Lehman
Her close-up paintings of buildings, such as Aalto’s Hidden Gallery, in New York; the Steven
Entrance (above), with its delicately handled strips of color, Harvey Fine Art Projects, in New
make viewers attend to something other than content. York; The Suburban, in Oak Park,
Has line ever been so interesting? Whether freely painted Ill.; Project Row House, in Houston; The Poor Farm
or managed with masking fluid, the line becomes its own Experiment, in Manawa, Wis.; and the Kopeikin Gallery
subject in Park’s paintings, and patches of color become and Gagosian Gallery, both in Los Angeles. Her work is
in the permanent collections of The College of DuPage
effusive, entrancing shapes. WA
and Drawing Center’s Artist Archive at the Museum of
Modern Art. Some of her paintings were also included
C.J. Kent is a freelance writer and editor, as well as a professor in Watercolor: Paintings by Contemporary Artists
at Montclair State University. She also founded Script and (Chronicle Books, 2013).
Type (scriptandtype.com), which helps people express
themselves effectively in writing and in person.
F O R J U N KO O N O R OT H W E L L , F I E L D
S K E TC H I N G I S N OT O N LY A WAY TO
E X P E R I E N C E A N D R EC O R D W H AT I N S P I R E S
H E R , B U T A L S O A M E T H O D F O R C R E AT I N G
L A S T I N G S E N S O RY M E M O R I E S .
by
y Amy
y Lei
e br
b occk
J
unko Ono Rothwell felt the joy of sketching in (some were almost scribbles) but he was, of course,
watercolor from a young age. In elementary delighted. Some of his comments about her sketches stay
school in her native Japan, her class had plein-air with her to this day. Like, “What a beautiful pattern” for
days where they would go to a park or beach and her sketch of the wing of a cicada. And “Good movement
paint what they saw with watercolors. you caught” for a quick sketch of people. “He opened my
When she was in junior high school, eyes to the beauty of nature and encouraged me again to
Rothwell’s art teacher encouraged her to fill continue sketching,” says the artist. “Since then, I’ve kept a
a sketchbook over the summer. “Draw anything you want,” sketchbook with me all the time.”
he told her. She spent that summer covering pages with Today, Rothwell is an accomplished painter of still life,
sketches of her family, landscapes, insects—everything. landscapes and figures in oil, pastel and watercolor, but
She wasn’t sure if her teacher would approve of them sketches and scribbles are still an important part of her art

LEFT
Lisbon
(watercolor on
paper, 7x9)
BELOW
Paris
(watercolor on
paper, 7x9)
practice. Rothwell’s sketches are usu- “I think when you see the scene in front of you and fall
ally looser and more abstract than her in love with it, you create a good painting,” says Rothwell.
other work. She especially likes sketch- “When I’m sketching, I don’t think about sales; I just try
ing with watercolor and gravitates to to capture what I see. After I finish, I put the picture out
OPPOSITE TOP
the medium for street scenes where of my sight for a while. Then when I see it again, I know Assisi, View of
quick work is required to capture whether it’s good enough to sell or not.” Rocca Maggiore
fast-moving people and action. (watercolor on
For Rothwell, sketches start as paper, 7x9)
a way to experience and record what SKETCHING EVERYWHERE OPPOSITE BOTTOM
inspires her. Making art in the Rothwell had her first extensive plein-air experiences over- Obidos Pousada
moment helps her create lasting sen- seas as a college student when she traveled to Central and Castelo (watercolor
sory memories. Sometimes a scene South America. “To see a different world from Japan was on paper, 7x9)
painted quickly en plein air will serve so interesting. I wanted to record what I saw and felt in my
BELOW
as a study for a larger painting that sketchbooks,” says the artist. “When I look at those Killkenny, Ireland
she’ll finish in the studio with the sketches now, I vividly remember not only the place but (watercolor on
help of reference photos. the atmosphere—how I felt there—the air and the smells.” paper, 7x9)

She has enjoyed sketching land-
scapes and people wherever she goes
ever since. Whether close to home or
further afield, the artist brings
sketching materials along with her
wherever she roams. Italy and
Portugal are two of her favorite desti-
nations to sketch and paint. Aside
from the breathtaking scenery, she
says the people are kind, yet they
leave her to focus on her work.
Rothwell is rarely without a small
sketchbook when she travels, so she
can make line drawings whenever and
wherever inspiration strikes. When
she visits one place for several days,
the artist sets out on the first day—
small sketchbook in hand—to scout
promising sketching and painting
locations. She makes several quick
sketches to help decide which loca-
tions she wants to return to in the
coming days.
Then she’ll return to her chosen
locations with a lightweight backpack
of art materials. For watercolor
sketching, she brings a Winsor &
Newton watercolor set of 24 colors,
large and small brushes, pencils,
a Sharpie pen, a small water bottle,
paper towels or tissues and a Canson
7x10-inch sketchbook. She doesn’t
bother to set up an easel. “If I can find
a place where I can sit, I put my water-
color set next to me. If there’s no
space to do that, I put my watercolor
set on the ground,” she says.
Rothwell likes to keep things sim-
ple, especially when she’s on the road.
“For overseas travel, I need to think
carefully about what I really need,”
she says. “If you have too much paint-
ing gear, it weighs you down and
makes it hard to walk around.”
CAPTURING
THE SCENE
When Rothwell finds something she
wants to sketch, she establishes a
quick line drawing using a Sharpie
pen (and sometimes pencils). Then
she adds watercolor. “I want to estab-
lish the values first,” she says. “I paint
two parts—a dark area and the light
area—with a large brush.” The artist
uses bright colors for the light area,
leaving the lightest spots blank to let
the paper create the highlight. For the
darkest areas, she often uses a blue.
Once those light and dark areas are
established, she adds the middle val-
ues and uses small brushes to add
more details.
ABOVE
Okikamuro Road, “When I sketch people on the
Japan street, I change my usual approach,”
(watercolor on says Rothwell. “I just dive in with
paper, 9x7) any colors I see and draw
RIGHT
really quickly to cap-
India, Mountain ture the movement.
Goats If I see a bright color
(watercolor on on cloth, I paint it.”
paper, 7x9) She’ll also take photos
for reference so she
can add more colors to
details later.
After Rothwell is back
home, she uses her sketches
as studies for larger paint-
ings. Sometimes she’ll
combine a few sketches
into one painting, but the
finished product might be
in a different medium.

LEFT
Rainy Day in
Killkenny, Ireland
(watercolor on
paper, 7x9)
BELOW
Seine, Paris 2
(watercolor on
paper, 7x9)
For example, when she went to
Mahabalipuram, a small town in
south India, she saw people getting
water on the street and fishermen
checking the fishing nets on the LEFT
India, Fisherman at
beach. She made lots of quick Mahabalipuram
7x9-inch watercolor sketches of the (watercolor on
people going about these daily tasks. paper, 7x9)
Once home, she used them to create
OPPOSITE
a large pastel painting.
Okikamuro
Lighthouse, Japan
(watercolor on
FULL CIRCLE paper, 7x9)
Rothwell says making art outdoors,
BELOW
from life, helps her continue to learn Umbria, Italy
new things—more than painting in (watercolor on
her studio ever could. paper, 7x9)

“When I paint in my studio, even when I use my prelimi- Meet the Artist
nary sketches and reference photos, I feel that I’ve lost the
freshness of nature,” she says. “Photographs don’t show
things the way the human eye sees them. The colors and
perspective are different. Photos don’t focus on one spot
the way the eye does. When you see a photo, it makes you
feel as if the landscape is flat and uniform.”
This is why the artist works outside as much as possible.
She likes the challenge of having to act quickly to capture
a scene as the light changes. “There’s no better way to learn
to paint landscapes than from nature. I can observe depth,
proportions and object relationships much better than I
can from a photograph. I can study firsthand how the light
and shadow changes. Time is limited, so I need to push
myself to make decisions about the composition and color
quickly,” she says. Junko Ono Rothwell (junkoonorothwell.com) is a Master
Even though Rothwell has painted around the world, it’s Pastelist of the Pastel Society of America, a member
clear that she’s still rooted to those early art experiences in of excellence in the Atlanta Artists Club and the
Japan that helped her take notice of even the smallest Southeastern Pastel Society, a Fellow of the American
details of her surroundings. “When I stand the field, I can Artist Professional League and a member of the Pastel
Society of Japan. Her paintings have received many
hear birds and smell the air. I can become a part of nature. awards, and her work has appeared in several books,
It’s such a nice feeling.” WA magazines and exhibitions around the world. She also
illustrated a Japanese graphic novel: M. McLaughlin,
Amy Leibrock is a Cincinnati-based writer and content manager. Minna no koe ga kikoeru (Bungeisha, 2002).
Bright Ideas
Grappling With Greens

When it comes to painting interesting greens, the secret is to mix it up.
By Brenda Swenson
W ithout a doubt, green is one

color that can cause a lot of
trouble for painters. Part of
the problem is relying solely on greens
straight from the tube. Any tube of
green by itself isn’t believable. Every
tree, shrub or flowering plant is going
to shift in greens, from warm to cool,
from pure to grayed and so on. A land-
scape is going to shift in greens, too,
with warmer yellow-greens appearing
in the foreground and then becoming
cooler and more blue-green as the eye
travels further into the distance.
To capture this natural variation in
nature, an artist needs to mix greens.
But how do you mix believable greens?
One word: practice. I recommend
keeping a book in which to record
your favorite color mixes. Over the
years, I’ve built whole reference books
for this purpose, not only for greens,
but for useful triad mixtures and
more. I refer to these again and again.
I’ve also found that mixing on my
paper, instead of the palette, helps me
create more interesting greens. Why?
I have more variations. WA
Brenda Swenson (swensonsart.net) is

an award-winning artist and popular
workshop instructor.
ABOVE
Architecture alone can look stark, so I often include trees to soften a
scene, as seen in Victorian of Highland Park (watercolor on paper,
11x10). The tree on the left is a mixture of raw sienna light and French
ultramarine. The tree on the right is a mix of green gold and French
ultramarine. To liven things up, I used imperial purple—a complement to
the yellow-green—for form and cast shadows on the house. Before the
purple had a chance to dry, I touched a small amount of raw sienna light
under the eaves to create reflective light and color in the shadows.
LEFT
I drew the flowers in California Poppies (watercolor and ink on paper,
11x10) using soluble ink (Kuretake ZIG Clean Color Real brush pen in light
brown). I began painting at the top with cobalt blue and worked down,
carefully painting around the poppies. For foliage, I added quinacridone
gold to the blue for a light green. For darker greens, I used my favorite
mix: phthalo turquoise and burnt sienna. I painted the poppies with a
mixture of Hansa yellow medium and permanent yellow deep.

HYM MBH RSL MBH GG MBH QG MBH
HYM FU RSL FU GG FU QG FU
PYD PT BS PT GG PT GG LB
MIXED GREENS
To make this chart of my favorite HYM = Hansa yellow medium MBH = manganese blue hue
green color combinations, I used RSL = raw sienna light FU = French ultramarine
Daniel Smith Watercolors with the
exception of burnt sienna, which PYD = permanent yellow deep PT = phthalo turquoise
is a Winsor & Newton paint. Here GG = green gold BS = burnt sienna
is a guide to the abbreviations: QG = quinacridone gold LB = lunar black
artist’s marketplace
FLORIDA TEXAS
WORKSHOPS Tony Couch, AWS Tony Couch, AWS
11/16-11/19/20, Lakland. 1/11-1/14/20, Dallas.
ALABAMA Contact: 678/513-6676 or toncouch@mindspring.com Contact: 678/513-6676 or toncouch@mindspring.com
Huntsville Museum of Art
8/20-8/22/20, Huntsville. David M. Kessler - NEW YORK WASHINGTON
Bigger, Faster, Fresher, Looser Abstract Painting. Hudson River Valley Art Workshops Tony Couch, AWS
9/18-9/19/20, Huntsville. Gary Chapman – 8/16-8/22/20 Seth Apter 10/30-11/1/20, Kennewick.
CHARCOAL: Expressive Mark Making, 8/30-9/5/20 Margaret Dyer Contact: 678/513-6676,
A Painter’s Approach to Drawing. 9/13-9/19/20 Elizabeth St Hilaire toncouch@mindspring.com
10/5-10/9/20, Huntsville. Brian Bomeisler - 9/20-9/26/20 Christine Camilleri
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. 9/27-10/3/20 Richard McKinley
10/10-10/12/20, Hunstville. Brian Bomeisler - 10/4-10/10/20 Skip Lawrence
Intensive Painting/Color. 3/27-3/31/21 Howard Rose
10/22-10/25/20, Hunstville. Lian Quan Zhen - 4/7-4/11/21 Alvaro Castagnet
East Meets West: Chinese and Watercolor Painting. 4/25-5/1/21 Sally Strand
Contact: Laura E. Smith, Director of Education/Museum 5/9-5/15/21 Robert Burridge
Academy, 256/535-6372
lsmith@hsvmuseum.org or hsvmuseum.org
5/19-5/23/21 Barbara Nechis
5/23-5/29/21 John MacDonald Master Artist Workshops
5/29-6/2/21 Margaret Evans
6/2-6/6/21 Melanie Morris Huntsville, AL | 256.535. | hsvmuseum.org
COLORADO 6/13-6/19/21 Jane Davies
Stephen Quiller 6/20-6/26/21 Debora Stewart
8/16-8/26/20, Creede. Intensive Color and Water Media 6/26-6/30/21 Patti Mollica
Workshop. Contact: Marta Quiller PO Box 160 Creede, CO. 7/11-7/17/21 Margaret Dyer
81130 - 719-658-2741 or at info@quillergallery.com or 7/28-7/24/21 Michael Solovyev
www.quillergallery.com
9/27-10/3/20, Creede. Water Media Plein Air
7/25-7/31/21 Kim English
Contact: 888/665-0044 info@artworkshops.com Don’t miss your chance
4UR Ranch - www.4urranch.com
Contact: Robin Christiansen
or www.artworkshops.com
to advertise in
NORTH CAROLINA
PO Box 340 Creede, CO. 81130
719-658-2202 or at robin@4urranch.com
10/23-10/25/20, Philadelphia Watercolor Society
Tony Couch, AWS the next issue of
9/21-9/24/20, Greenville.
Watercolor
color & water media Contact: 678/513-6676 or
Contact: Denise Vistollo at denise.vistllo@pwcsociety.org toncouch@mindspring.com
president@pwcsociety.org
4/27-4/29/21, Colorado Watercolor Society PENNSYLVANIA
Contact: Sandy at 303-324-2021 or Stephen Quiller
sandy@sandydayselbert.com
10/23-10/25/20 Color & Water Media.
6/6-6/12/21, Creede. Experimental Water Media’s Contact: Philadephia Watercolor Societ, Radhika Srinvas,
4UR Ranch - www.4urranch.com president, president@pwcsociet.org or pwcsociety.org
Contact: Robin Christiansen PO Box 340 Creede, CO.
81130 - 719-658-2202 or at robin@4urranch.com Art Alliance of Pennsylvania Kaline Carter 505-730-9301
11/9-11/12/21, Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild 10/5-10/8/20 Lemont.
Contact: Robbie Summers, Workshop Chair at Watercolor Landscape with Chris Leeper Mary McLane 970-290-6065
robsumart@aol.com Contact: artallianceofcentralpa.org
Join Us!
Prestigious Annual Convention Goes Virtual!
Sept 21 -27, Over 20 Demos, Presentations, Studio Tours,
Reception, Virtual Exhibit and Much More!
Online Workshops
David Smith,
September 8-11
Sandy Maudlin,
September 15-18
John Bayalis,
September 16
Kim Minichiello,
September 29
More information and registration for convention and these
workshops is available on our website
www.floridawatercolorsociety.com

7VTQVM41>-?WZS[PWX[ >Q[Q\"
___L[UQ\PNQVMIZ\KWU
_Q\P,I^QL:;UQ\P)?;6?;
0I^MI/ZMI\?I\MZKWTWZ-`XMZQMVKM_PQTM;\IaQVO;INM +ITT"! !
1V[\Z]K\QWVQVKT]LM[+IUMZI)VOTM[:MNMZMVKM,ZI_QVO[7VTQVM1V\MZIK\QWV MUIQT"
84=;\PM_WZS[PWX_QTTJMZMKWZLML[WaW]KIVZM^QM_Q\NWZ576<0 LI^QL(L[UQ\PNQVMIZ\KWU
ADVERTISER’S INDEX HUDSON RIVER VALLEY
Andy Evansen ...............................................69 ART WORKSHOPS
Aquarelle Studios And Galleries................ 68

Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania .........70

Casa De Los Artistas Inc. ............................70

Creative Art Workshops ..............................70
Crow Hill Gallery ..........................................70

David R. Smith ..............................................69
Joel Popadics Jun 14-20, 2020
Florida Watercolor Society ........................ 68 Seth Haverkamp Jun 21-27, 2020
Golden Peak Media ..........................3,17,60,71 Desmond O’Hagan Jun 27-Jul 1, 2020
Hudson River Valley.....................................70 Howard Rose Jul 8-12, 2020
David Smith Jul 12-18, 2020
Huntsville Museum Of Art.......................... 68 David Dunlop Jul 19-25, 2020
John C. Campbell Folk School ....................70 Seth Apter Aug 16-22, 2020
Kanuga ........................................................ 68 Margaret Dyer Aug 30-Sep 5, 2020
Retreat Week Sep 6-12, 2020
Quiller Gallery ................................................3 Sep 13-19, 2020
Elizabeth St Hilaire
Rosemary Brushes ......................................... 7 Christine Camilleri Sep 20-26, 2020
Savoir Faire .................................................. C4 Richard McKinley Sep 27-Oct 3, 2020
Skip Lawrence Oct 4-10, 2020
Tony Couch...................................................70
Alvaro Castagnet Apr 7-11, 2021
Sally Strand Apr 25-May 1, 2021
Robert Burridge May 9-15, 2021
See Art | Love Art | Share Art Barbara Nechis May 19-23, 2021
Weeklong classes in painting,
John MacDonald May 23-29, 2021
Margaret Evans May 29-Jun 2, 2021
drawing, mixed media and more.
#myartistsnetwork Melanie Morris Jun 2-6, 2021 JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL
folkschool.org 1-800-FOLK-SCH
artworkshops.com BRASSTOWN NORTH CAROLINA
Bev Jozwiak, AWS, NWS -HDQQH

Workshop Video on 5 DVDs &DUERQHWWL
Bev’s Complete 4 day Workshop 1HZ&KLOGUHQ·V
+HUHDUHRIVWDUWWR¿QLVKSDLQWLQJV %RRN
7KH0\WKRI
WKH6DFUHG
7ULDQJOH
3OXV'RZQORDGDEOH
9LGHRV
FURZKLOOJDOOHU\FRP
6((:25.6+239,'(2&/,36
Bev Jozwiak, AWS, NWS, Nita Engle, AWS
Alexis Lavine, NWS, Chris Unwin, NWS
WWW.ChrisUnwin.NET
We Ship Our Books & Videos Worldwide
Order
Now
Bev’s164 page
9x12 inch
hardcover book
It includes:
Step by Step
Design LAC DU FLAMBEAU, WI - JUN 22-25 KENNEWICK, WA - OCT 30 - NOV 1
Photography OXFORD, OH - JUL 13-16 LAKELAND, FL - NOV 16-19
Backgrounds GREENVILLE, NC SEPT 21-24 DALLAS, TX - JAN 11-14 2021
Color Mixing
Painting People
Painting Animals


-RWTMVI)HYGEXI'SRRIGX
From meditations in the studio to trending colors, urban sketchers and

Renaissance masters, Artists Network connects you with the artists, ideas,
inspiration,skills BOEUPPMT that encourage art makingBOEHSPXUI
Artistsnetwork.com
Open Book
Everyday
Subjects
It’s the shadow and color
that bring interest to this
sketch of a key ring by
Linda Daly Baker
(lindadalybaker.com).
“The key ring by itself
would be boring,” Baker
says, “but by adding a full
palette of color, it becomes
more intriguing.” The
artist’s choice for a simple
division of space in unequal
proportions also adds interest.
“When experimenting with
composition, the elements and
principles serve well,” she says. “In this
case, the geometry of the background
plays against the curvilinear key ring and
the close-up view creates a sense of tangibility.”

Art sts
ARTISTSNETWORK.COM
Magazine 3ZIV
ART COMPETITION
Tulle Rainbow
by Cher Pruys
Bananas The Lead Line

by Stephan Hoffpauir by Lesley Humphrey
WIN PRIZES and PUBLICATION!

All mediums, styles, and subjects accepted
Showcase your talent by entering this exciting competition, brought to you by Early Bird Deadline:
Artists Magazine. This contest is for artists age 60+ working in all traditional art October 1, 2020
media. Make sure to enter before our Early Bird deadline to get $5 off your entry!
Ten winners will receive $250 in cash and will be featured prominently in the Regular Deadline:
April 2021 issue of Artists Magazine. November 1, 2020
LEARN MORE HERE: www.artistsnetwork.com/art-competitions/over-60/

SINCE 1264
Watercolor masters paint on

Fabriano Artistico paper
Mom at the Manor

By Dean Mitchell
Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico Soft Press
For a FREE sample of Fabriano Artistico

soft press visit SavoirFaire.com/promo
@ArtSavoirFaire

2020-10-01 Watercolor Artist

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

2020-10-01 Watercolor Artist

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

MIXED GREENS: 12 Color Combinations to Try

Explore the possibilities and the beautiful

– Stephen Quiller, American Watercolor Society Award Winner

To find out more about my new 12-color casein

Paintings | Etchings | Workshops | The

Get Social Café Cassette (detail; watercolor and ink

2 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

The Best of Watercolor: Splash 21 Winners

C olor is personal. Even as

SENIOR DESIGNER Brian Roeth

SENIOR EDITOR Holly Davis

INTERIM ASSOCIATE EDITOR Christina Richards

What’s your favorite color? We may ADVERTISING

VP, DIGITAL Melanie Darienzo

VP, PRODUCT AND STRATEGY Josiah Klebaner

NEWSSTAND SALES Scott T. Hill

just three paints can be an effective way to get a handle on peakmediaproperties.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

color, as demonstrated in a landscape painting by artist NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTION

4 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

I Come in Peace (30x22)

Watercolor Painting Kit [$18]

With his cool, limited palette and rug-

6 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

What’s your history in art?

How long have you worked in

What do you like about the medium?

Tell us about your project to support restaurant workers.

A n artist’s expertise with color

8 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

In Universal Canvas (19x23)

The Palette Knife

10 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

CHOOSING A palette knives to see which works

12 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

What part of the

14 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

Katherine Chang Liu

16 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

with Jean Haines’ Video Collection

Immerse yourself in mindful, expressive

In this three video series, join Jean Haines as she

Good Things A s artists, we love color. We

Come in Threes placed color note that brings an

18 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

20 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

BUILD YOUR PALETTE

The Power of Primaries

22 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

CONSISTENT VALUES, VARIED COLORS

24 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

act of mixing to be both fun and medi-

HAINES: My mood is the ﬁrst consider-

What do new painters often get

26 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

28 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

Have you had a breakthrough

MEHAFFEY: I’ve long understood that

30 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

Award-winning artist Mark

Michigan artist Donna

34 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020

other creative opportunities that

some interesting perspec-

38 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2020