Compost Studios

In my eagerness to get moving studying art, I signed up for both a watercolor painting class and an acrylic painting class, one on Wednesday, one on Thursday.

 This was a mistake.

Both classes demand more time than I anticipated, and it's been expensive to purchase supplies for two classes at once. (I didn't have a supply list in advance for either class, and because I'm truly a beginner, I'm having to get everything. I can use the same brushes for both classes, but everything else is different--stretched canvas vs. watercolor paper, easel vs. clipboard, acrylic vs. watercolor paint, etc.)

Another issue is that the techniques and approach to the two media are completely different. I think I'd do better to focus on one at a time. Without thinking, I bring acrylic techniques to watercolor and use too much pigment or muddy my colors with attempts to paint over an area. Other times I use watercolor techniques with acrylics and end up with too much water in my paint and too much white space peeking through.  It's better to be grounded in one media before trying the other so that if you bring techniques from one media to the other, it's done strategically and with purpose.

I've loved my acrylic class, which is small and personal and is very much a learn-by-doing atmosphere.  The participants are all true beginners, and the instructor paints as we paint, explaining her approach and methods and giving tips as we go along.

In creative work, if I'm subjected to too much lecturing and too many rules, my brain becomes preoccupied with sorting out and organizing all the information, with doing things "properly."  The thinking half of my brain overcomes the intuitive side, and I become blocked, my work loses its energy, I stall and can't find my way out. The acrylic class is a good match to my learning style. 

My watercolor class has been much less satisfactory. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it's a large class (25 students!)  with a broad skill level. Some people are true beginners; others are seasoned artists who have exhibited or sold their work.  Because of the size of the class, there's very little, if any, personal attention. The instructor doesn't paint along with us, so we don't get a demonstration on how it's done.

Some of have no idea how to even start, others are eager to advance skills that are already good. We're taught by doing homework on our own and having our work critiqued in front of the class. For me, this has been less effective. I don't feel I'm learning enough for the time I'm investing, both in class and out of class.  I don't know any more about watercolor now than I did when I started. I have learned some composition and perspective lessons, but not how to handle the paint. So yes, I'm disappointed, and I won't pursue another watercolor class like this anytime soon. Yesterday I decided to stop attending as the class is almost over anyway. 

So one class has been a joy, the other more work and less satisfaction. The plus side: now I know what I'm looking for in a class. If you do try a class in an area of interest and it bombs, don't give up. Analyze what went wrong and look for an opportunity to pursue your interest in a setting that better matches your learning style. 

I'll close with my one and only completed watercolor. The composition  is static and it took me forever to do: