Classes

Current Classes

  • Monday classes at Mulberry Art Studio 21 N Mulberry St Lancaster PA 17603 (717) 295-1949  1:30 – 3:30 with evening classes scheduled for the future – email me if you’re interested  $60 for four classes
  • Tuesday classes at York Art Association 220 S Marshall St York PA (717) 755-0028 morning & afternoon

Voted Best Watercolor Teacher- American Artist Magazine 2009!

Painting As Madness

What Students Say….Art At Rest

Paul Kasmir:  “Debi does not push you in a box, she allows the artist to bring out their own vision.  A lot of times when you attend a class, they have all these formulas of how to paint like them (the cookie cutter method).  Debi lets you throw out the cookie cutter and make your own cookies from scratch!”

Edith McMullin: I have been painting on and off for 40+ years with many teachers – a great retirement activity.  Of course I have favorites.  One of my top is Debi Watson.  She makes no secret that she is striving all the time to get better.  She is generous in showing us the process, both good and bad, using many styles of painting and demonstrating, demonstrating, demonstrating.  And I want to share my favorite quote:  “Artists can color the sky red because they know it’s blue.  Those of us who aren’t artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we’re stupid….” - Jules Feiffer

Painting Seashells

Introduction:  Watercolor paint is magical.  The bloom of moving color calls everyone’s inner artist to come out and play.  This exercise is guilt free.  Students can have fun experimenting and exploring ways to combine paint and create texture, without fear of failure.  The next layer will cover the first and give you a second chance to learn even more doing it all again and again.  Success was never so easy and fun.

Supply List

  • Quality watercolor paper – Arches 140 or 300 lb. cold pressed (comes in 22 x 30” sheets or ‘blocks’)
  • Masking fluid – I use Pebeo Drawing Gum because I can thin it with water, but any brand should work.
  • Toothbrush for spattering – the cheapest brushes tend to give the best results.
  • Hair dryer – be warned, if you’re doing this with a friend, too many hair dryers going at once have often blown the fuses at the art centers where I have taught.
  • Brushes – large (can be round or flat) for washes and small brush for detail, I currently am using Cheap Joe’s American Journey brushes, but I also like the silver black velvet brand.
  • Salt – I just use table salt, but you can get different effects using different kinds of salt
  • Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser or generic brand of same
  • Exacto or utility knife
  • Glad’s Press and Seal or something to cut a stencil out of
  • Paints – cobalt blue and burnt sienna for sand, your choice of other colors for shells – some recommended – permanent rose, aureolin yellow, black and white for touch up, if desired

Helpful Hints

1. Spatter masking fluid on dry paper with toothbrush.  (NEVER apply masking fluid to damp paper, the fluid will adhere to the paper permanently and be impossible to remove.)  This is only the first layer, so a light spattering is all you need.  You’ll be spattering more in each successive layer.  (If you cover your paper with too much spatter,  none of the paint can stick to the paper.  A white beach does not work well.)

2. Use a large brush for applying the blue and brown and water and work quickly.  Don’t mix your colors together with your brush.  Lay it on, add water by dripping or spraying and tilt your paper to let the water and gravity do the mixing.  When you work quickly, your artistic side tends to take control and often does a better job than overthinking your art.  Relax, put on the paint and water and tilt it to see what happens.  (Of course, putting protective newspaper or a trash bag under your dripping painting is a good idea.)  The biggest mistake that students make is trying to control everything the paint does.  For this exercise, relax and go with the flow.  Remember that the paint will look different dry than it does wet, and anything you don’t like can be covered in the next wash.  Give the paint a chance.

3. Add texture.  When the color wash is starting to dry, spatter it with the toothbrush loaded with clean water.  You should see tiny blooms form from the water spots.  If not, it’s too wet, so let it dry a bit longer and try spattering it again.  Or add salt, but you won’t see the effects immediately – you need to let it sit a couple minutes before the effects will appear.  Salt also must be applied to a ‘drying’ wash to be effective.  Finding the perfect time to apply salt is tricky.  Once I was working on an area and I applied salt three different times.  Another artist pointed out that the salt had to be added at “just the right time to work”.  “I’m sure one of those times was right,” I replied.  And it was.

4. Repeat the wash and spatter steps three to seven times.  The sand needs to be a fairly dark value to be most effective, but if you get an effect you really like, stop there.  Some students have stopped when their sand was only medium dark, and others have made their sand very dark.  Remember, when you remove the masking, it will change the appearance of your sand.  The darker the sand, the more dramatic the spatters will seem.   Only remove the masking when the paper is completely dry.  Rub gently, but be thorough in getting all the masking and salt off.  Misket removers are inexpensive and I often use mine, but I always finish by going over the area with my fingers to catch the left-over specks.  Having left over masking or salt fall down in your mat after your painting is framed is very frustrating, so try to get it all.

5. Arrange your seashell shapes in a simple, pleasing pattern, usually one to three areas.   Don’t make your shells all the same size or shape, variety is much more interesting to your viewer’s eye.  Overlapping a shell or shape to another shell adds interest, also.  If you ever walk on the beach, you’ll notice that the shells appear randomly, not evenly spaced.  (Remember that the shadows all need to be going the same direction.)

6. Make a stencil of your shell shapes with the press and seal or a sheet of plastic like a report binder.  Promotional postcards that everyone receives in the mail also make good reuseable  stencils because of their thickness and plastic coating.  Being a good artist does not mean you limit yourself to only store bought items.  Use your imagination – that’s artistic.

7. After fixing your stencil or press and seal securely to the paper, use a damp Mr. Clean’s eraser gently to lift the paint off your shell areas (not the shadow area), without damaging the paper.  Only wipe with a clean area of the eraser.  If you’re wiping with an eraser that’s already got paint on it from a previous wipe, you’ll be rubbing paint back into the paper instead of lifting it off.  Rinse your eraser often and let your paper dry if it’s showing any sign of damage.  Students who pay close attention always note that I am very protective and careful with the surface of my paper.  Wet paper is very delicate.  The lifted area does not need to be completely white, and will also dry lighter than it looks wet, just like your washes.  I always wipe from the outside in, which helps keep me from knocking my stencil lose.

8. When you paint your shells, be sure to paint a strong sunlight pattern.  While the actual color of the shell may be white or brown, the highlight should be white and the shadow area much darker.  Depending on the shape of the shell, the highlight, where the sunlight hits it directly, will usually be at the top, with a definite shadow on the rounded aspects.  Studying the shape and color of shells in strong light can be an excellent lesson in using shadows to create a sense of reality.  Shells in sun have local color (the color of the shell), highlights, shadows and reflected light .  Because the shells aren’t terribly big, you will probably need a small brush with a sharp point to it to paint these.  Start by leaving the highlight white and painting the rest of the shell it’s local or actual color.  Once that dries, paint the darker shadow area on top.  Practice will make you a better artist.  I think you’ll find that the more you look at each shell, the more details you’ll see.  A lot of being a good painter begins with careful observation of the way light shows on the form of your subjects.  Remember to stand back when you evaluate your painting.  Almost no one will be looking at your shells from as close as you are when you’re painting it.

9. The last step is to add the shadows the shells are casting onto the beach.  The dark value of these shadows make the shells really pop and the sand texture showing through the shadows makes them very believable.  It’s a good idea to draw the shadows on before you paint them, but pencil marks can be difficult to see on a dark beach.  I use a white watercolor pencil when I draw on dark areas, so I can see what I’m drawing and the line dissolves with water.  When you paint the shadows cast by the shells onto the sand, make it darker right next to the shell and add water as the shadow moves away from the shell, to make the value lighter.  Don’t make ‘wimpy’ light colored shadows – they need to be dark.  Lay your shadow down with the fewest brush strokes possible to avoid smoothing out the texture of the sand.

10. Add shadows under some of the texture spots in groupings.  Avoid shadowing spots uniformly but go for a random pattern.

11. You can also add anything your imagination dreams of to your beach.  Some suggestions are coins from pirate treasure, footprints, waves or foam, or sea creatures.  Remember that this technique works best when you’re viewing the sand from the top, not the side, so avoid objects like birds unless you’re doing a different composition.

12.  Why does this work so well?  Although this exercise will give painters amazing pictures, the real value is in understanding why this works.  This limits brushstrokes.  By flowing the two colors together with water and gravity, the water does the work, which always creates much better effects than any paintbrush can.  Also, it uses a limited palette (only two main colors) of a primary color (blue) and its complement (orange – provided by burnt sienna), so color harmony is built in.   This exercise gives people a chance to play and experiment with color and texture, and let their own inner artist show their stuff.  We all have inner artists who can do a great job, given the opportunity.  To find yours – keep painting!