Deb Ward, GWS, OWS, PWS, WSI - WATERCOLOR/WATER MEDIA - My passion is teaching adult “beginners”. Weekly classes in my home; workshops; classes for Cincinnati Recreation Commission. My work is nationally recognized and published - see “Featured” on my sidebar. I’m a Signature Member of Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana state Watercolor Societies, Cincinnati Art Club, past-President of Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society. Contact info below under “Class Information”

Thursday, April 28, 2016

THURSDAY PAINTING (W I P)

Shadows have been darkened, flowers completed.


Thursday, April 21, 2016

THURSDAY PAINTING (W I P)

I usually paint with a friend on Thursdays, and thought I would try (emphasis on TRY) to get a Thursday painting ritual going, showing a work in progress and the finished progress, posting each Thursday.

The first of these paintings appears here.
Obviously, once again, I forgot to take a photo of the very beginning!  After the drawing was traced I added a very light red, yellow and blue, lightly began shadowing the sides of the vases and shadows on the fabric and began painting in the flowers.


Monday, April 11, 2016

PAINTING, ANYONE???

Most people do not look forward to Monday, start of another work week.

Not me!

I LOVE Monday mornings - and here's why:

I have the best students in the world!  Somehow I have lucked out with a zany bunch of people who love to cook, bake and drink!

Spontaneous celebration breaks out with great regularity.

Consider last Monday - - -

One student arrived with a bag full of ingredients for Mimosas and Blood Marys!  How can you argue with that.  Here's the "bar" set up in the kitchen:

 and here they all are preparing to imbibe!

And "they" say that painting is a solitary process!

I'm already looking forward to next Monday!

Thursday, April 7, 2016

PEARS ANYONE?

In my Cincinnati Recreation classes I have to have paintings that can be done by people with experience as well as those who have never picked up a paint brush before - so I have to come up with something that can be done by all.

Who doesn't love pears?

This first example (not my best, but I don't teach to get beautiful paintings, I just want to give students the idea how to do things) is mean to show how to paint realistically.  This one is obviously not complete, but enough was done so that the students "got the idea".  I spend most of my time going from student to student to give them guidance.

We first painted the pears wet in wet, then some glazing.  Then the background - we created wood.  They thought it was lots of fun.


Then for our next project I let them run wild - pretend to be a little kid again, do anything you want to a pear!

Some people were still intimidated and it took them a while to loosen up, others got crazy from the get go.

This exercise also lets those with less experience work with their brushes, paint, paper and water to experiment and learn in a playful manner.

This last photo was my "homework" for that class.  I created several different ideas, just to show what could be possible.

This week we will begin a new project - a rose.

Monday, April 4, 2016

BASKETS - FINAL

The chair rail above and the chest below have been added.


More colors added to the main basket and a few tweaks here and there and the project is complete.