Kay began the demo with a very lively chat about her background, and some of her painting philosophy. Kay is not only an expressive artist, she is also a very expressive teacher, and here are a few of the things she said to us during the demonstration:
"...it's just a piece of paper, not canvas you have to stretch and prime!....
Watercolor is the easiest medium to get started in, it's less expensive and you get results sooner." "Most people who don't do
watercolor don't realize how flexible it really is." "God doesn't like a stingy painter!...How many of you have thirsty paintings?" "Water is the vehicle to get the paint to move...put the water where you want the paint to go...pulling the wet to the dry to evenly distribute the color." "...don't try to control everything - allow things to happen." "Take time to stand back in AWE to allow
watercolor to happen!"
Kay's demo painting was already sketched in and ready for watercolor. Kay told us she often uses an
Artograph Prism Projector to sketch out her image from one of her photos, it saves a lot of time especially when teaching! The sketch was a close up of flamboyant yellow and red parrot tulip. Kay began her
watercolor painting showing us how she wets the areas she is working on, applies her
watercolor, talking while she paints..."all your brushstrokes count, make them curved and directional." "if I don't mix the colors on the paper (because they will turn gray) and allow time to mix on their own - they keep their own identity."
One of the brushes Kay told the group she was enjoying painting with, was a
Daniel Smith Platinum Series 24 Squirrel/Synthetic Watercolor Brush because it has the water holding power (the squirrel) and springiness, flexibility and strength (the synthetic). After the demo, several people were interested in checking out the brush, and Kay gave a bonus impromptu talk about the brush by the brush counter...a natural teacher!
I always enjoy seeing
artists' palettes and how they actually set them up to paint, and Kay's was no different. She told me she squeezes about 1/2 a tube on to the paint well for every color, then allows them to dry out until there is just a little "give" when touched with a finger. Kay prefers not to paint from freshly squeezed paint...too easy to get too much paint on the brush. Then, when she is ready to paint she sprays water over the paint on her palette a few minuets before painting to soften the
watercolor paint. Kay does it this way because she has found it preserves the "tips" of her brushes to not try and "jam" paint onto the brush when the paint it too dry.
The demo was as entertaining as it was informative, Kay is a natural teacher. Kay has watercolor
workshops and
classes scheduled through her
Eden Gallery at
kaybarnes.com .
