.

.

I have some fantastic students and here a few paintings of theirs from various classes. Little do they know I learn as much from them as they do from me!

Watercolor of York, PA by the Chocolate Company

.

What’s Up

I just entered Man About Town (left) in the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s online member exhibit. Currently, I’m working on a commission of a Revolutionary War Camp in York.

Selling VS Showing

I haven’t been entering many juried exhibits lately. This year I’m focusing on paintings that will be for sale, watercolors and oils of scenes from my hiking trips. My new hiking buddy, puppy Edgar, is still too little to hike far, but he’s growing fast. He’ll be ready for some great adventures once spring gets here.

Blue Ridge Mountains

I’ve signed up for a photography workshop in the Blue Ridge Mountains in April. It’s a big beautiful world out there when you go hiking and I want to be able to take fabulous reference photos. I can hardly wait!

Just thinking of the pictures I’ll take makes me feel like sunshine on water!

.

Photo Workshop

My next series will be scenes of hikers and landscapes from Eastern USA, mainly focusing on the Appalachian Trail. I need some breathtaking photos to paint from.

So, I just sent a deposit for a photo workshop from Jerry Greer in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I’m ready to pack my cameras and hiking boots – I can hardly wait. And I’ll be sharing my photos, so I hope my students and other artists are excited, too!

I found another artist who is planning on  hiking and painting – SpencerMeagher.  We’re looking for other artists with similar interests, so help me spread the word and maybe we’ll start a movement – painters of the Appalachian Trail.

This is the photo I’ll be using for my first lesson!

.

Classes are starting! This term will be very special as I’m polishing up the lessons for on line, too.

I like to teach something fun and successful so students get a lot of practice.

That’s what learning is all about – practice. The more fun it is, the more you do. The more you do, the better you get. The better you get, the more fun you have. It can go a lifetime.

Learning Watercolor by Deb Watson – simple steps to success.

.

Did you notice the first word in Happy New Year is happy?

.

  What makes you happy?

Instead of resolutions on everything you need to do better, why not think about what really makes you happy and plan to do more of it ?

Here are some things that truly make me happy:

• teaching – seeing the joy in someone’s eyes when they realize they can paint
• nature – like watching the birds at my feeder -it makes me happy deep inside
• painting – creating something that inspires other people is so rewarding

Here Are My ‘Happiness’ Resolutions

1. On-line teaching.  I’ve been hard at work learning (and am still learning) how to translate my watercolor teaching into effective on-line lessons. It’s a bit of hard work, but should get easier as time goes by and I’ll be able to share the joy of watercolor with so many people!

2. Hiking. I’m planning to do day hikes on the Appalachian Trail, take photos and paint the hikers and the Eastern United States. ‘Western Art’ is a category in many art lists, so why don’t we make ‘Eastern Art’ a category, too? I’ll be posting my photos on my flickr photo site and everyone can download them to paint free of charge. Let’s start a movement in the art world.

3. Painting. I’m setting regular hours for painting. Since I’m a morning person, I’ll paint then, and let the housework and email etc. go until after painting.

Okay, I am hoping to get more exercise with all the hiking, but I am focusing on the positive, the Happiness factor, for 2013. You should go for happiness, too.

HAPPY New Year – and keep painting.   Deb Watson (P.S. Click on the clouds for a new video)

Doing the Foot Work Before Painting

Yesterday, I went to Hawk Mountain in PA with my husband and we hiked the rockiest trail I’ve ever seen.

Since I’ve decided to do some landscape paintings from the Appalachian Trail, my first step is to visit a few areas to photograph and get ideas.

The trail at it’s best.

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is one of the best places in Northern America to view the migration of hawks, although there were eagles and ospreys there, too. Many famous artists have visited, including Robert Bateman. Volunteers keep count of the birds, but I was too busy watching my feet to use my binoculars much.

Why Did I Pick This As My Next Painting Series?

I live in the East, and some of the most beautiful (accessible) landscapes are found on the Appalacian Trail. I like to hike and paint what I know best. Since I’ve always loved nature and the outdoors, painting the trail is a perfect fit – a never ending panorama and reason to go on beautiful hikes.

So join me on this blog as I go off on my greatest adventure yet!

Thank You Card From Milton Hershey school kids!

What a grand surprise!  Today in the mail I got a handmade thank you card signed by all the kids at Milton Hershey school where I went to demonstrate how much fun watercolor can be.  They must have been watching, as they made my card with some of the techniques I showed them.  The kids were interested and interesting.  For the last demo, I did a portrait of one of the boys.  (It was the most fun I’d had all week and made me think I should start going to a life drawing class again.)

Have you ever had a cat hair on your paper when you were painting? 

I always have them, and often it leaves a line if the paint sticks around the hair.  I wondered if lots of cat hair would work to make a texture.  I brushed my cat and mashed the wads of hair onto my paper.  Then I put quinacridone gold paint into a spray bottle and sprayed it onto the hairy paper.  Just for more interesting texture, I flipped quinacridone sienna with a toothbrush and salted the whole thing.

Wet cat hair smells a lot like wet dog.

When it was dry, the texture was fairly light in value, so I just did my cat drawing right on top and started painting.  I didn’t feel like washing off the white areas and have been experimenting with American Journey’s Gessso for watercolor from Cheap Joe’s, so I used that to paint the white on top.

It’s fun to try new mediums and surfaces and techniques, but I think I’ll leave the cat hair crackle until my cat starts shedding again next summer.

The small fee I charged for this painting will go Lancaster County Cat Rescue.  If anyone wants to also donate, the mailing address is 359 College Ave, Lancaster PA 17603.