Watercolor Workshop with Robin Erickson Oct. 10

I learned a lot in this valuable workshop even though I mistakenly thought it was going to be just a demonstration. So I didn't bring any of the supplies I was supposed to have brought. Luckily, my friend Diane and the teacher loaned me everything I needed. We were supposed to bring something to draw, which of course I didn't, so Robin gave me this photo that was taken in Greece.

First we traced the basic shapes (narrowing them down to about 12) onto a piece of acetate. then we traced this onto tracing paper and transferred it to watercolor paper. The acetate seemed like a superfluous step until Robin said we could use this to try out different paint colors on our painting if we were dissatisfied with any of them.

She uses a palette of just three colors that are the basics to make most colors: Aureolin yellow, Permanent rose, and Cobalt blue. I did my painting with just these colors but she suggested others that could be added; Winsor(Phathalo) green, Quinacridone sienna, Cobalt violet, Sepia, Cobalt teal blue.

After transferring the shapes to the paper she demonstrated adding the paint. She filled in one of the shapes with a brush full of clear water then tipped her brush in one of the colors and added it to the shape. It pretty much just spread out to the edges of the pencil marks. Then she tipped in another color-she suggested trying the complementary color. It looked great. Diane used this technique beautifully on her flower painting. Penny Fedorchak did it on her stem and leaf.

My semi-finished painting: