Many of you know that I profess to paint in only pastel, finding the medium expressive and mixing a palette of color is not required. So imagine my trepidation when I discovered watercolor classes on our 67 day cruise this past winter. Long cruises typically have many diversions for sea days so what did I have to loose?
Margaret was contracted by the cruise line to teach the classes. She is from Canberra, Australia. She started her 40 plus students with a simple color mixing chart, only allowing us to use the three primaries. Check that, I could remember red and yellow make orange. Then we painted a pear still life with the pears from the Lido. She showed us how to under-paint, let the medium dry and begin to build the values. Not a bad still life of two pears. Over the two months we painted from photographs from the vicinity we were cruising in, icebergs, mountains, Machu Picchu, birds, as well as flowers from the arrangements. We also used
Derwent Inktense water color pencils. They are perfect for an easy set to tote for plein air work and can create a wash on a ink sketch. So I now enjoy watercolor but today I am back to the easel with my pastels.
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| Rose in Derwent Inktense |
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| Still life of hand in watercolor |
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| Toucan - Brazil watercolor |
