The Triton Museum offers a private Master Class for advanced watercolorists. The critique group was talking about it at our last meeting. They suggested I join them and so I did.

Reflections; was the theme for this past month and what the artists were working on. I did the drawing last week and couldn’t get painting until the day before class. Ha! So I worked on it all day, and then just had to stop. This was done the day before the crit.

Looking at this as I post I can clearly see that the number one rule has been broken because the center of interest is right smack dab in the middle. ANYWAY . . . it can always be cropped. Below is an example.

Each month we are given an assignment. Such as Reflections, this month will be water crashing onto rocks and discovering the Pattern. The pattern of value shapes is the skeleton upon which a painting is built. Learning how the sizes and arrangement of light and dark shapes can set up you painting for success from the start. Phew! She lectured on waves crashing onto rocks but the bottom line is we have artistic license to interpret the assignment anyway we wish.

We each bring our work in and stack them against the wall. Jane sits at an easel and discusses each one. Looking at what’s working as well as offering suggestions to make it a better painting.

We were in a gallery at the Triton and while the pieces were spot lit very well the room in general was poorly lit for what we were doing. (Triton put us in a different gallery this month. Class is usually held in a gallery where one wall is glass and it is very well lit. Photographing with out a flash, here are some of the shots of what other artists did.

Once all the paintings have been reviewed Jane lectures on our next assignment using her works as examples. She then goes on to give an amazing demo of water crashing on rocks.

Turning her drawing upside down she lays in some dark pigment then with a natural sponge she softens hard edges. She also uses this technique to create the waves splashing and crashing on to the rocks.

The rocks should vary in size, shape and color. Using a credit card Jane scraped the recently painted rocks that are still damp; she scraped them with a credit card to get this textured effect.

It was a wonderful experience; Jane Hofstetter is a true gem.

Cheers!

Keeping the brushes wet,

Teresa