Andrew Wyeth's Beautiful Watercolor Paintings!

Granddaughter, 1956, drybrush and watercolor on paper, 15 3/4 x 22 1/2 inches, Collection of Wadsworth Athenium, Hartford, Connecticut, Gift of Mrs. Robert Montgomery

Courtesy Moving Space Productions - moving truck rental

Great Video for Week Four!

Week One

Week One: Fail!

Okay, I learned a lot from this first painting.

1) I've got to be willing to do still life subjects or landscapes when learning to watercolor - figures and faces are too advanced for me right now.

2) Use a step-by-step tutorial. No -- I can't just figure it out, despite my thinking otherwise.

3) My biggest problem will using a light touch. I can't treat these like oil paints. I started with good intentions, but in the end I made the same old mistakes.

4) I need more colors. I could do a majority of the mixing, but while I'm learning I should get the list of colors suggested by the book.

I started out painting a white woman, then it turned into a black woman, then it turned into a hispanic man. You are not suppose to do that with watercolors. The end result is a strange layering of washes and bizarre colors. I suppose it is good to be humbled.

Next picture: I'm going to follow a step-by-step tutorial in the book for an arrangement of flowers. It may not be my first choice of subjects, but I need to start simple and get a lot of help. I'll go and get the colors the author recommends, and hopefully it will go better this time!

My Goals

I'm going to create seven watercolor paintings, one per week. Five will be displayed in my classroom, and hopefully I will be able to finally figure out this difficult medium. I will use the book How to Paint and Draw by Hazel Harrison to help with my instruction and I'll find an artist that knows this technique to help guide me through the learning process.