Workshop sessions 6, 7 and 8

Didn't get the posts in time to let you know about our progress, and now I am posting some photos taken over 3 sessions. Session 6 took place on the 28th of November, while sessions 7 and 8 were merged into one day, and we did a long session on the 5th of December, 2015.

In session 6 we started a small composition with an accent on the autumn leaf. First did the free hand drawing in the sketchbook, then transfer it to the watercolor paper. In the next step we worked on the background and on the first glaze on the leaves and had to stop to let it dry well before starting the actual work on them. Bellow is the progress we achieved in one hour of work (I only took photos of the paintings):

We started session 7 by learning on separate papers how to glaze slowly each small part of a leaf, to mix wet-in-wet colors directly on the paper, and how to save small areas and paint around. Then moved to the actual paintings and started to work the next glazes on each leaf and the branches.

During the last session we started to work our Christmas painting, with a little Christmas tree branch and a few ornaments. I worked on the composition before, and had the line drawing ready, in order for the ladies to learn how to transfer on the watercolor paper a ready drawing, by using transfer paper. Then, we introduced a new medium used by watercolorists to save the white of the paper, the drawing gum. We saved a few highlights on the main ornament and we splashed some snow.

We must work faster this week to finish this one, to get our Christmas cards ready in time!

November 21, 2014 - 5th Workshop Session

Due to some other obligations I had, we didn't meet  on November 14, and I hope we will manage to reschedule that session before the Christmas. The most probable we will have a "double" session in one of the forthcoming Fridays.
This session (and the one to come on November 28) was dedicated to practice primary colors mixing, mostly making various greens out of yellow and blue. We used Gambodge Yellow (a medium yellow) and Cobalt Blue for the in-class works, but I encouraged the ladies to play at home with other yellows they now have on the palette (Lemon Yellow and Yellow Ochre), to check the differences in the obtained greens.
I do have a few photos from this session, although I do not have much time left during the session to take photos. Actually most of the times we finish at least 15 minutes in delay - for the next year we need to consider either smaller groups (4-5 attendants per group) or longer duration of the session and meeting only once every 2 weeks. Watercolor paper needs time to dry between color layers, and if we do not finish a piece during one session it is a bit disappointing for the attendants.
And now the photos from this session, with autumn leaf studies:

November 7, 2014 - 4th Workshop session

Another wonderful meeting at the Community Center, and Mrs. Argiro Sakellaropoulou, the Director of the 2nd Community Center, joined us for a short time and to get an idea of the progress and involvement we got so far. The ladies were very happy to show their watercolors and I think their progress is huge for such a short time.

This session we worked on gaining some basic theoretical background on primary colors and mixing them to make any other color we need. Next session we will practice primary colors mixing with some autumn leaves - they are a wonderful subject for green mixtures!

October 31, 2014 - 3rd Workshop session

Today I had some more time to look immediately after at the photos, and to share them with you. We did practice the graded washes, wet-in-wet color mixing, and a bit of dry to dry with a small little painting of a imaginary seascape. We started with a bit of practice to get a small boat shape done in the sketchbooks, and then used only Cobalt Blue and Ivory Black to do our small paintings, as you can see bellow.

This was our group today:

Practice sketching:

Adding colors:

Showing how we put a flat wash on paper:

Wonderful works from the ladies:

The Community Center president, Mr. George Kolokithas, visiting our workshop:

More progress with our paintings:

By the end of the session, I am sure you cannot say which one is done by me and which one by one of the ladies:

And the most important of all, we are having lots of fun:

Next week: primary, secondary and tertiary colors; making a color wheel; first steps towards watercolor glazing.

October 24, 2014 - 2nd Workshop session

On Friday, October 24, 2014, we meet for a second time, to start the real fun with mixing watercolors. At first, I was informed that one of the ladies decided to quit, as having the week day fixed to Friday doesn't fit her schedule (he is usually out of town on Fridays), and it was a bit disappointing. But then, the good news is that we have managed to get materials for more ladies, and we can go up to 10 (at least the initial group of ladies that registered since the beginning of summer)!
On previous Friday I meet 7 of them, and moved on to first washes of watercolor on paper. They were all very happy with trying out the new mixing palettes, brushes, and paints and all other materials. And I did manage this time to take a few photos, which although not the best quality, I am sure you will enjoy.

What we did in this second session:
- had a look at the "homework" done by the ladies that attended the first session, and discussed the different approaches taken to make sketches of simple home objects; the big surprise for all of them was to discover how good they actually did compared to what they expected
- discussed how to further progress with sketching exercises, and the next homework is to have some object magnification done and work on values to get object likeness and light
- discussed the first pigments (colors) we are going to use, and the first exercises to exercise color values, flat and graded washes
- started with first colors on the palette: Gamboge Hue, Crimson Lake, Cobalt Blue and Ivory Black.
- exercised in the class the washes with the Cobalt Blue

I was expecting we would have time to also do a first small painting, to further exercise the graded wash, but with the introduction of the news ladies we spend more time than expected. Thus, this Friday (October 31), this will be the first thing we will start with.

October 14, 2014 - 1st workshop session!

Yes! We did it! Finally we got around all the problems and started the fun! We started with 5 ladies at this first meeting, and 2 more will join us from the next session. Unfortunately no photos yet, as I forgot my camera at home trying to get all the materials with me.
What we did in this first meeting:
1. introduced to each other and talked about the reasons we are there (most of us were always dreaming of painting someday, but we were always afraid our hand doesn't have it)
2. talked about what watercolor is, and how does it differ from other media, especially tempera and acrylics, which seemed to be more known and usual terms for the attendants
3. introduced the main materials that we are going to use, and talked about the various options out there, about the amount of materials needed, about their costs, and about the right moment to decide to invest in own materials; the ladies were very happy that they have the opportunity to try it out at no cost, and only if they really like it and what to continue work more intensively at home to have to buy something
4. talked about the need to learn sketch and practice it as often as possible, at first with very simple everyday objects that are similar to simple geometric shapes (sphere, cylinder, cone, cube)
5. had a small introduction of what a fast preparatory sketch is, how we use the pencils and got an exercise on the way to be completed at home and during the next week
6. looked into some of the Artists watercolor magazine issues to see how watercolor paintings look like; some of the ladies borrowed some of them for home study, which made me very happy because they are going to introduce a new element in their everyday life

And that was all about our first meeting - fun with colors next week! From the next week our meetings were established to take place every Friday, which suits better the schedule of the Community Center.