Kunz DVD workshops and "Painting Watercolor Portraits that Glow" Book!
Take the worry out of watercolor! Jan Kunz’s structured approach takes the fear out of any subject, including portraits!
Introduce a friend to watercolor with Getting Started Right in Watercolor. This workshop includes two entry level exercises and basic information to help beginners avoid some very common problems.
Jan’s Roses in Crystal workshop, is a perfect workshop for flower lovers.
Jan’s portrait workshops: Watercolor Portrait Painting: Female, and Painting Watercolor Portraits: A Simple Approach From Photo to Finish (boy) make watercolor likenesses very ‘doable’. You will be amazed that you ever thought portraiture was something to avoid!
Jan’s book: Painting Watercolor Portraits That Glow is a highly sought after book by portrait painters. Used copies of this book were recently selling on Ebay at over $50. Creative Catalyst republished the book last year so that it could be more readily available. SIGNED copies are also available.
You can get ready for Mother’s Day by painting a portrait or give your Mom the workshop AND the book. A winning combination!
Why Paint Abstract / Non-Objective Art?
We have filmed two purely abstract workshops: John Salminen’s, A Designed Approach to Abstraction and
Virginia Cobb’s, Acrylic Abstract Painting: The Evolving Image. I asked both artists to explain what it was about abstract painting they liked, what held their interest.
John Salminen said abstract paintings grew and changed with the viewer. A subject oriented painting, such as that of a barn, permits the viewer to enjoy the painting on many levels: composition, color, paint quality, nostalgia, fantasy, imagination, etc., but they are all related to the barn. A well painted abstract painting permits the viewer to enjoy the artwork AND continually find new ‘things’ in the painting such as discovering transitions and edge qualities, form for form sake – and even imagery. An abstract painting permits the viewer to bring more to the painting as the viewer matures as a connoisseur of art.
I asked the same question of Virginia Cobb. She told a story of the day she decided to stop painting realistic art and turn her attention to abstract painting. She said she saw a show of beautifully executed watercolors, and she knew then and there that she could add nothing new to the genre. With abstract or non-objective paintings, each painting is a new expression of what is inside her, the artist, and only her. Each is unique by it’s very nature as an expression of the artist on that given day. It is pulled up from the depth of her experience as a human speaking to the human condition in a visual expression, something more akin to music without words.
Working with John and Virginia has brought me renewed interest in the subject… or the lack there of…
~Lynn~
AWS Winning News
The American Watercolor Society has been sending letters to award recipients. Up to now, we have heard that Mark Mehaffey won the AWS SILVER MEDAL OF HONOR award for (a.) ‘Blue Monolith’ and
Donna Zagotta (on our schedule to be filmed in April) won the SAMUEL LEITMAN award for (b.) “This Way”. We know that other CCP artists may have received awards but have not heard from them directly, therefore, we feel uncomfortable posting the news just yet.
On a personal note, I used to think people who won these awards were somehow different … anointed with special extra talent. Through our association and friendship with these artists, I’ve learned that they are ’simply’ hard working artists who have STUCK WITH IT and nurtured what talent they have!! There is no magic formula. Congratulations to all “¦ we are delighted to see them receive the accolades they totally deserve.
The Power of Design
We’ve all heard this art instructor question, “Where is your center of interest or focal point?” We are encouraged to draw attention to our focal point by placing the lightest light next to the darkest dark.
Creating a personal, visual expression is much more than developing a set of instructions about where to look! All of the elements and principles of design are available to enforce our message and create mood and content.
This masterpiece by Francisco Goya (1746-1826), Executions of the Third of May 1808, demonstrates how an artist has strengthened his message with multiple supportive design choices.
There is indeed no question as to where to look; the lightest light is next to the darkest dark. But the emotional content is ‘brought home’ with the oppressive dark ’sky’ weighing down on the victim, and the muted tones drain all hope from the scene (color and value).
The action takes place in the lower part of the painting, fairly close to the audience, implying some immediacy. A strong path leading into the painting from the lower left, up toward the light, beckons you to enter, but do you dare!?
After entering the painting, our direction is pushed from right to left (line and direction) with the thrust of the soldiers. The faces of those being executed can be seen, (recognizable individuals) but the shooters have been depersonalized into a pushing, pointed mindless force. The victim is frozen in horror. The gunmen are organized with repeated gestures and hard edges. The prisoner’s vulnerability is echoed in their rounded, soft, disorganized shapes. Additionally Goya used agitated strokes applied in a course, rough fashion showing the crudeness and violence of the scene. His power of his message is far more than ‘look here’.
~Lynn~
THREE great drawing workshops!
Make drawing second nature!
Three excellent workshops: Carl Dalio’s Sketching in Perspective – Drawing and Composition for Artists,
David N. Kitler’s Draw with Confidence, from Basic to Brilliant and
Craig Nelson’s Drawing a Duotone Portrait. You will learn skills that are integral to fine painting and drawing. Check it out!
Shared Ponderings on Florals
I am delighted to share an insightful response to my last article from artist Ratindra Das. – Lynn –
I read the little article in the newsletter about flowers with interest. As you know, it is not one subject that I paint too often. However, I couldn’t help writing my feelings about it.
I heard a saying, “don’t paint the pig, paint the squeal!” This has to do with the expressiveness of a painting . An artist uses a subject as a conduit to express a theme, event, anecdote, a sense of place, etc. – or in other words the essence of a subject. By and large this is true for representational paintings.
Sometimes I suggest students think a bit about this aspect of a painting. For example, if you think about strength, massiveness and masculinity of mountains, they are not going to look like potatoes in paintings, if you think about the fragility, soft, transitory character of a flower when you paint flowers, the paintings will reveal those qualities. There is a difference between gentle murmur of a flowing stream and crashing sound of waves against rocks.
Copying photographs doesn’t do it! A photograph doesn’t lie, but it doesn’t tell the truth.Once I studied a single poppy flower for five days from a bud to full blossom and on the last day I noticed a withered one next to it fluttering in air. Every single day I drew a little. The experience was real and vivid. Never again have I drawn or photographed another poppy to paint.
Once an art critic of a nationally known newspaper took a jab at a watercolor show because subject matters were predictable and its lack of relevance in context to time. My response to that was that the essence of a subject does not change over time. There are universal qualities. Loneliness, tranquility, fear, anguish, tenderness, etc, etc. are timeless. We do not paint flowers just to paint flowers! Picasso painted ‘Guernica’ to show ugliness of war and violence – not an event. Paint flowers to express the essential qualities of flowers, or otherwise it might look lifeless and stale.
Regards,
Ratindra Das
Watercolor Ways with Landscape Painting in Acrylic – Charles Harrington
(Sorry, this sale is over)
Are you in love with the look of watercolor landscapes but want something that doesn’t need protection under glass? Then you definitely need to check out Charles Harrington’s “Watercolor Ways with Landscape Painting in Acrylic” art instruction DVD.
This workshop helps ease the transition from watercolors to acrylics! Harrington takes the best qualities of both watercolor and acrylic and brings them together: the juicy transparency of watercolor and the permanence and flexibility of acrylics. Charles uses a small watercolor painting executed en Plein air as a reference and demonstrates how to strengthen design, create multiple textures, achieve depth and retain a variety of edge qualities using acrylics. With acrylics, artists can reclaim whites clear up to the end! That alone makes this workshop worth checking out!!
Ponderings on Florals
Lately, I’ve been thinking about why it is that paintings of flowers are generally not as highly regarded as paintings of people. I think a well done painting of flowers is every bit as difficult and nuanced as that of a human subject “¦ I think the riff lies elsewhere.
The success of any painting is its ability to communicate to the viewer. Said in a slightly different way, the viewer must be able to relate to the painting. A great floral painting must somehow take “a bunch of posies” and have it convey human emotion. That’s a neat trick, especially in today’s busy world. It’s hard enough to get people to ’stop and SMELL the roses’ let alone relate to them! People identify to other people more readily. Paint an image of a few people and immediately the viewer is adding their own story to the mix.
On the flip side, painters often choose flowers as their introduction to painting. Beginners see flowers as less intimidating. However, to paint a likeness of a flower includes dealing with countless petals, a variety of colors, complex surfaces in varying relationships to a light source, opaque and translucent qualities, plus all the design issues one considers when painting any subject. Unfortunately, many painters are content when their florals are simply ‘pretty’ and nothing more. Value, hue, color temperature, rhythm and a host of other design elements must be employed to shape a bouquet into a statement about something MORE than the bouquet. It must have emotional content and ‘connect’ to a viewer. Pretty is fine, but pretty with a touch of joy, or love or solemnity has greater depth.
I have more thoughts regarding this subject but not enough room to cover it here…another day perhaps. I encourage painters of flowers to strive to have their paintings say more, and perhaps people who have long left the floral as their subjects, revisit it with the intent to bring more to the table.
~ Lynn
CHENG-KHEE CHEE Workshops
(This sale has ended)
Give yourself the gift of a lifetime of knowledge with internationally acclaimed artist Cheng-Khee Chee AWS df, NWS. Chee is a unique blend of East meets West. His search for a technique to best effortlessly express the qualities of his subjects has led him to perfecting five distinct techniques. The ‘Chee Series’ covers all five techniques, plus a Vol. 1, Introduction & Interview DVD covering his method of collecting reference materials and an in-depth interview.
In Volume 2, The Traditional Watercolor Approach learn how Chee shows how he addresses busy complicated scenes.
In Volume 3, Saturated Wet Technique, Chee paints soft edged subjects like his Koi.
In Volume 4, Improvisational Splash Color Technique, Chee uses a bit of acrylic gel to coat a portion of his watercolor paper. By acting as a resist, his paints create a mountain texture.
In Volume 5, Crinkling Paper Technique, you learn how Chee effortlessly paints an otherwise daunting foliage scene (contains two demos).
Finally, in Volume 6, Chee demonstrates Marbleizing and Monoprinting Techniques to capture is mystical dream-like imagery.
Makes a great gift!
The Power of Design
We’ve all heard this art instructor question, “Where is your center of interest or focal point?” We are encouraged to draw attention to our focal point by placing the lightest light next to the darkest dark.
Creating a personal, visual expression is much more than developing a set of instructions about where to look! All of the elements and principles of design are available to enforce our message and create mood and content.
This masterpiece by Francisco Goya (1746-1826), Executions of the Third of May 1808, demonstrates how an artist has strengthened his message with multiple supportive design choices.
There is indeed no question as to where to look; the lightest light is next to the darkest dark. But the emotional content is ‘brought home’ with the oppressive dark ’sky’ weighing down on the victim, and the muted tones drain all hope from the scene (color and value).
The action takes place in the lower part of the painting, fairly close to the audience, implying some immediacy. A strong path leading into the painting from the lower left, up toward the light, beckons you to enter, but do you dare!?
After entering the painting, our direction is pushed from right to left (line and direction) with the thrust of the soldiers. The faces of those being executed can be seen, (recognizable individuals) but the shooters have been depersonalized into a pushing, pointed mindless force. The victim is frozen in horror. The gunmen are organized with repeated gestures and hard edges. The prisoner’s vulnerability is echoed in their rounded, soft, disorganized shapes. Additionally Goya used agitated strokes applied in a course, rough fashion showing the crudeness and violence of the scene. His power of his message is far more than ‘look here’. ~Lynn~
THREE great drawing workshops!
Make drawing second nature!
Three excellent workshops: Carl Dalio’s Sketching in Perspective – Drawing and Composition for Artists,
David N. Kitler’s Draw with Confidence, from Basic to Brilliant and
Craig Nelson’s Drawing a Duotone Portrait. You will learn skills that are integral to fine painting and drawing. Check it out!
Preview all of our drawing DVDs
Shared Ponderings on Florals – Ratindra Das
I am delighted to share an insightful response to my last article from artist Ratindra Das.
Lynn –
I read the little article in the newsletter about flowers with interest. As you know, it is not one subject that I paint too often. However, I couldn’t help writing my feelings about it.
I heard a saying, “don’t paint the pig, paint the squeal!” This has to do with the expressiveness of a painting . An artist uses a subject as a conduit to express a theme, event, anecdote, a sense of place, etc. – or in other words the essence of a subject. By and large this is true for representational paintings.
Sometimes I suggest students think a bit about this aspect of a painting. For example, if you think about strength, massiveness and masculinity of mountains, they are not going to look like potatoes in paintings, if you think about the fragility, soft, transitory character of a flower when you paint flowers, the paintings will reveal those qualities. There is a difference between gentle murmur of a flowing stream and crashing sound of waves against rocks.
Copying photographs doesn’t do it! A photograph doesn’t lie, but it doesn’t tell the truth.Once I studied a single poppy flower for five days from a bud to full blossom and on the last day I noticed a withered one next to it fluttering in air. Every single day I drew a little. The experience was real and vivid. Never again have I drawn or photographed another poppy to paint.
Once an art critic of a nationally known newspaper took a jab at a watercolor show because subject matters were predictable and its lack of relevance in context to time. My response to that was that the essence of a subject does not change over time. There are universal qualities. Loneliness, tranquility, fear, anguish, tenderness, etc, etc. are timeless. We do not paint flowers just to paint flowers! Picasso painted ‘Guernica’ to show ugliness of war and violence – not an event. Paint flowers to express the essential qualities of flowers, or otherwise it might look lifeless and stale.
Regards,
Ratindra Das
Watercolor Ways with Landscape Painting in Acrylic- Charles Harrington
(Sorry, this sale has ended but the DVD workshop is still available)
Are you in love with the look of watercolor landscapes but want something that doesn’t need protection under glass? Then you definitely need to check out Charles Harrington’s “Watercolor Ways with Landscape Painting in Acrylic”. This workshop helps ease the transition from watercolors to acrylics!
Harrington takes the best qualities of both watercolor and acrylic and brings them together: the juicy transparency of watercolor and the permanence and flexibility of acrylics. Charles uses a small watercolor painting executed en Plein air as a reference and demonstrates how to strengthen design, create multiple textures, achieve depth and retain a variety of edge qualities using acrylics. With acrylics, artists can reclaim whites clear up to the end! That alone makes this workshop worth checking out!!
Ponderings on Florals
Lately, I’ve been thinking about why it is that paintings of flowers are generally not as highly regarded as paintings of people. I think a well done painting of flowers is every bit as difficult and nuanced as that of a human subject “¦ I think the riff lies else where.
The success of any painting is its ability to communicate to the viewer. Said in a slightly different way, the viewer must be able to relate to the painting. A great floral painting must somehow take “a bunch of posies” and have it convey human emotion. That’s a neat trick, especially in today’s busy world. It’s hard enough to get people to ’stop and SMELL the roses’ let alone relate to them! People identify to other people more readily. Paint an image of a few people and immediately the viewer is adding their own story to the mix.
On the flip side, painters often choose flowers as their introduction to painting. Beginners see flowers as less intimidating. However, to paint a likeness of a flower includes dealing with countless petals, a variety of colors, complex surfaces in varying relationships to a light source, opaque and translucent qualities, plus all the design issues one considers when painting any subject. Unfortunately, many painters are content when their florals are simply ‘pretty’ and nothing more. Value, hue, color temperature, rhythm and a host of other design elements must be employed to shape a bouquet into a statement about something MORE than the bouquet. It must have emotional content and ‘connect’ to a viewer. Pretty is fine, but pretty with a touch of joy, or love or solemnity has greater depth.
I have more thoughts regarding this subject but not enough room to cover it here…another day perhaps. I encourage painters of flowers to strive to have their paintings say more, and perhaps people who have long left the floral as their subjects, revisit it with the intent to bring more to the table.
~ Lynn ~
CHENG-KHEE CHEE Workshops
(Note: This sale is over) Give yourself the gift of a lifetime of knowledge with internationally acclaimed artist Cheng-Khee Chee AWS df, NWS. Chee is a unique blend of East meets West. His search for a technique to best effortlessly express the qualities of his subjects has led him to perfecting five distinct techniques. The ‘Chee Series’ covers all five techniques, plus a Vol. 1, Introduction & Interview DVD covering his method of collecting reference materials and an in-depth interview.
In Volume 2, The Traditional Watercolor Approach learn how Chee shows how he addresses busy complicated scenes.
In Volume 3, Saturated Wet Technique, Chee paints soft edged subjects like his Koi.
In Volume 4, Improvisational Splash Color Technique, Chee uses a bit of acrylic gel to coat a portion of his watercolor paper. By acting as a resist, his paints create a mountain texture.
In Volume 5, Crinkling Paper Technique, you learn how Chee effortlessly paints an otherwise daunting foliage scene (contains two demos).
Finally, in Volume 6, Chee demonstrates Marbleizing and Monoprinting Techniques to capture is mystical dream-like imagery.
Save $5 on each of the workshops. Makes a great gift! (Sale does not apply to the already discounted Chee set.)
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