| Author | Message | ||
  EVC |
I'm looking for assistance in teaching a couple of 14 year olds how to paint using watercolors. They say they want to learn but don't seem willing to try very hard to get their assignments done. I get the feeling that their only interest is in fooling with the paints. Anyone have any special approaches to working with this age group. | ||
Geeky2 |
Hi EVC: Just from grandchildren, I agree, they do just want to smear paint around. so I introduced my older ones to a stylized (sp?)type watercolor painting, which (I know little about the concept) but it is more like color book painting. You add the shading/glazes, soften edges in some places with a wet brush, can use brighter colors. I saw Terry Madden on tv do one of parrots, a comical little painting, and tried it. It was fun! and colorful. They learn some of the ways of controling watercolor, but they don't feel so restricted. | ||
fink |
EVC: Basically learning watercolor is a process of playing with the paint to learn how it reacts - at least that is the way that I have progressed. Granted, young people that age don't want to work too hard. Provide the basic concepts and later they will remember them and use them. It might not be tomorrow, next week or even next year but if the interest is there, the time will come. That is hard age to teach with peer pressure and all that stuff. | ||
J.A. |
EVC, I have taught drawing and watercolor painting to this age level for many years, and I found that the best way to work with them is to let them "discover" what the paints can do. Let them experiment with techniques: washes, drybrush, wax resist, salt, etc. and as their paints fall into place, let them try to develop form(s), even if they are far-fetched or comical. Discovering the unknown, or the "surprise" in their work, sometimes motivates them, if not artistically then imaginatively. In this way, they are learning about watercolors and the techniques used as they play this game of "Hey what did yours turn out to be?" Accept their spontaneous creations without much criticism. But let me warn you, at this age level, be prepared for ANYTHING they may "see" in their experiments!!!!! | ||
cloudy |
I have just begun using watercolors --- what kind of paper ar you using? | ||
cloudy |
What kind of watercolors are you using? I am in the Northwest area of the country -- what kind of watercolors do you find work well? | ||
carol |
cloud, paints and paper will develop into personal preference over time but to start with any acid free, 140# cold press. you can't go wrong with arches. lana, fabriano artistico, and winsor newton are also good. with paints,keep it simple.start with a few colors. again these are indeed a personal thing. perm. aliz crimson, w/n. ultra mar. blue, cad. yello med.aureolin. burnt sienna. i like to pick just three colors and play around with all the different other colors you can come up with. use professional artist colors if you can. daniel smith's colors are great too. i'm hooked on quin. gold and burnt orange. wouldn.t leave home without them. just have some fun and play. | ||
carol |
cloudy. sorry i left out the y. i also want to add, as a second thought, that the da vinci paints are not bad, and at a good price. what is with this weather over here in the north east. i think it's going to snow! | ||
Carrie Stuart Parks |
Hi all, I have taught watercolor to every age from five on up. Depending on the situation (public school classroom ie: artist-in-residence, parks and recreation class, private lessons, etc.) I have developed a few tried and true techniques. You can use any paint from Prang to professional and any paper from copy paper to regular watercolor paper. They explore each technique with very structured guidelines. Below is one lesson: The first thing I establish is the uniqueness of watercolor. I declare I am going to paint a tree. I take a brown, start to paint a "tree trunk"--back and forth--back and forth--over and over---yawn…….! I explain that this is "barn painting". It is the way they are used to painting. We want "exciting paintings". I then create a column of water, drop in some brown and blue, and rock the paper back and forth. The color mixes on the paper. While still wet, I use the back of the brush to create branches from the small puddle of water in the trunk. I display the two trunks, the slug-like boring brown blob and the interesting painting with water. They tell me which one is more interesting. This can be done with copy paper--in fact--copy paper works well because if they keep working on the paper, it creates a hole in the paper. If they work slowly, it dries. If they dig too deep, it tears. After drying, we finish the top of the tree with sponge leaves. This simple lesson teaches: 1. Keeping their brush strokes light. 2. Not to overwork the paper. 3. Mixing on the paper for more spontaneous results. 4. Using the back of the brush for finer branches. 5. Using a sponge for texture (it can also create grass). 6. Gauging the dryness of the paper. 7. Mixing various colors to see the results. 8. Allowing the paper and paint to work for them. This is an intro exercise that works with any age, any time, and even the cheapest of materials. It can be built upon to create flowers, leaves, bugs, forests, etc. How is that for a start-Carrie | ||
Geeky2 |
Carrie: you are trip, and tickle my funny bone. You are so helpful, too. (grin) | ||
Geeky2 |
That was supposed to be "you are a trip" sorry. | ||
cloudy |
carol, thanks for the information on the paints, I will definitely look into picking up some da vinci paints. I have been trying out #140 and #300 lb. paper, I really like the #300 lb. Found a place to purchase a 25-pack for right around $5.35 a piece, or something very close to that. Whereabout in the east do you live? I live in Washington state and the weather here has taken a fairly abrupt turn toward the cooler temperatures as well. The rains are not far behind! | ||
Carrie Stuart Parks |
Hey, Geeky2, you were probably right the first time--I are trip. (grin) Cloudy, where in WA state? I'm one state over in Idaho--near Spokane. You do know Washington's motto? "We're Washington. We're left of Idaho, but hey, who isn't?" I find to really master watercolor, think of it as a working experiment. When a scientist does an experiment, they use all the same protocol, same white mice, same chow, etc. They change one thing at a time so they can see and understand that one thing. In watercolor, I would find a paper, paint, subject, and technique to master. I would not change every thing every painting because you will not fully understand what you did right and wrong. I painted wet-on-wet animals for almost 10 years (OK, so you don't need to spend THAT much time on something...). I did it because I didn't know any better--I thought I had to finish the painting before the paper was dry....! I can do FANTASTIC furry critters because of that experience. When I went on to birds, they all had fur. sigh. It took a year to master feathers. I can paint most things now if I choose. If I want to do a new technique, I will find an instructor teaching the technique I want to master. I will buy their paints, colors, paper, palette. I will watch them paint, stand as they stand, use the brushes they use the way they use them. When I get home, I will continue their technique for a painting or two more, then start to incorporate that technique into my own. OK, another long-winded soapbox. -Carrie | ||
carol |
cloudy. i live in upstate n.y. near cooperstown. i have the pleasure of being within driving distance of the catskill and adirondack mts. which i visit freq. i enjoy landscapes, waterfalls and try to paint in a loose style. my goal for the year is to get more light in my paintings. i think the secret may be to lay down the darkest area [or value] first, then don't go any darker than that value. i always want to add darks at the end, then end up with a dark and muddy painting. anyway what the heck, go for it. | ||
Geeky2 |
Carrie, we love your "long-winded soap-box" messages! (grin) I'll try to watch my typing! Carol, I have the same problem with darks and lights, and really am trying to work on that! You can know what you are supposed to do-study it, etc., but when you are painting, sometimes it is hard to keep it all together. | ||
DrewKerrie |
I was wondering if anyone has experience in cards. Someone asked me to do up some cards and they suggested I have them scored so the edges wouldn't get damaged. I will be doing watercolor originals in 8x10 and then having them copied, or scanned etc.. like a print onto the cards. I may even do the paper pasted onto the card idea. They need to be done as professionally as possible yet still be inexpensive to create. Can anyone tell me about cheapjoes card stock. Pasting, Paperweight (80 lbs. max?) Or scoring in general? Any insight would be wonderful as I haven't dealt with the card industry/ retail market so to speak. | ||
Carrie Stuart Parks |
Hi DK, What do you want to do with the cards? Sell them individually? Reproduce them? Sell directly or through a store? That makes a difference. What is the subject and who are the (potential)buyers? -Carrie | ||
DrewKerrie |
A fellow artist and sales rep wants to get a bunch of local artists together to create and retail cards(similar to greeting cards)to a shop that sells them. She will do the selling and receives a small fee. She also is making some herself. They won't be origionals (each one of them anyway),they will be multi subjects - and I believe women are who buy the most greeting cards. However, I/She would be selling them to a shop first. She is going to bunch them in 4's or 6's of the same card. I don't expect it to do much to be honest. It does give me a chance to create, puts my name out there, and I have one more something to show when I'm ready. Plus it was my 1st official interview to sell (good experience), besides the commissions I've done in the past. The contract seems fair, yet I'm unfamilar with the process of this line. What do you think? Oh and although I don't know her well, she does seem to have good rep skills. | ||
DrewKerrie |
PS: she will rep most of the state. Thanks in advance! -DK | ||
Luv2PAINT4U |
RE: Drew I have been painting for many years and switched to watercolors 2 years ago. I am now teaching watercolors for a year now. Many of my students Love to do cards! I have them tape a border around the card and we paint in the center then at the end we make a 3 colored border on the edge. These cards are some of the most beautiful I've seen. I do all my cards this way now.. I have tried cards from Cheap Joes and other places and they work fine, but mostly I take a large sheet from a watercolor block and score them through in half or quarters and it works well too! If you need any card painters Let US Know! Thanks Deb / Cape Cod Mass | ||
Luv2PAINT4U |
OH DREW I forget to mention that I have taken my paintings scanned them on my PC then used lightweight watercolor paper in my printer, resized the painting through Paperport program and printed them out in color onto the watercolor paper! It works excellent! Looks like a painting, it has worked great for cards too! Hope this helps | ||
DrewKerrie |
Yes. Thank you. It sounds along the lines of what I have been thinking! I will let her know (if this does amount to anything). It's kind of a wait and see sort of thing. I saved your email address in my note book here just in case! -DK | ||
cloudy |
Hello Carrie -- yes, I am in Washington state, up against the Cascades on the western side of the state. Currently we are having beautiful weather, however, it is turning suspiciously cool at night! Regarding the art, I tried pastels about a year and a half ago, and I dearly love the medium. I have been fortunate with displaying my work around the Puget Sound area --- last summer I took a 5-day watercolor workshop from Sari Staggs. She resides in the L.A. area and produces some of the most incredible pieces I have seen, not that I have seen many! It piqued my curiosity enough to give it a try. So I kind of go back and forth between the two, lately I have been workin with just pen and ink. It consumes me, and then I have to squeeze in work, besides! You know how that goes! Gotta go for that second cup now!! | ||
Luv2PAINT4U |
Thanks Drew Best to YOu! Luv | ||
Carrie Stuart Parks |
Hey Cloudy, I just got invited to teach in your neck of the woods--Coopeville Arts Center on Whidby Island. I'll be doing a two day portrait drawing for kids, a five day drawing and painting the face, and an introduction to police art. -Carrie | ||
Cloudy |
Carrie -- that's great! My partner Henry and I were just over on the island Saturday the 26th to attend a wedding. When will you be over there teaching? Will it be this fall or into the winter or spring? Sounds very exciting! Tell me more about it.... Cloudy. | ||
apiper |
Hi Cloudy and Carrie, .....I hail from the Eastern side of the Washington Cascades. I have been painting for two years, teaching myself totally from books and am coming along just fine. Getting good actually. It takes time for the lightbulb to stay on, but eventually I do `get it'. ..... Carrie, I have read through all of your marketing advice. What a gal! Expect my check in the mail for the book....Cloudy, I agree about the weather. Here on the dry side fall is definitely nosing about.cheers to all of us artists. Artistic passion is a good thing, keeps the mind alert, the blood pulsing and who cares about vacuuming. | ||
Carrie Stuart Parks |
Ah, apiper, ya gotta be in Yakima, Ellensberg, Moses Lake or some other like place (I'm near Coeur d'Alene,Id) -Carrie | ||
DrewKerrie |
Carrie do you ever come to Michigan? -DK | ||
Carrie Stuart Parks |
HI DK, Have brush, will travel. Alas, my current schedule is Wisconsin, CA, and a cruise from Athens to Israel. I would hop on over if you had a strange-but-willing art group in need of a fun-but-unknown watercolor/forensic artist. -Carrie | ||
DrewKerrie |
I'll see what I could do! We are always looking for those types here. Heck, you would blend right in! When's the Wisconsin trip scheduled for? What size of a group would you need to have? And are you flying, cause it's a long trip by car! Been there done that. Email me if you want. Actually, I would love to come to Athens or Israel but that may have to wait another year or two! That sounds like a wonderful trip. -DK | ||
Carrie Stuart Parks |
Hi DK, Wisconsin the week of Oct.9-15. I need enough bodies to pay my expenses and a location provided for paints. I fly. Send me an email with address (unless you did and I'm brain dead again) and I'll send you some goodies. |
