Last week i talked about my wants on my OLW art journal page. Wants are great to think about but are pretty useless unless we put them into action. Here i am trying to do just that, taking a leap into new things that i have been wanting to do for a long time. I became a member of the Art Student League of Denver a while ago. i signed up knowing i wanted to take more art classes but kept coming up with excuses on why i hadn't taken one yet. i finally let go of my fears, or rather didn't let them control my actions, and signed up this summer.
The ASLD is located near downtown Denver in the Art District. It's a wonderfully old building (old by the US standards) situated on a fairly quiet street. Many great local artists teach here as well as visiting artists. Their schedule has so many great workshops, drop in classes, and lectures, it's hard to make a decision.
The interior is full of character with warm wooden staircases that squeak with quaintness. I love that art work adorns the walls and everyone is so very helpful. They run youth programs for art, especially in the summer, so the place was alive with budding artists.
My first class during the summer schedule was a watercolor sampler class. While i have been dabbling in watercolor for a while, i wanted to start from the beginning and just get my feet wet. it isn't the most comfortable medium for me so i thought i would be a good way to challenge myself.
As you can see our professional Artist/teacher is definitely a master in the subject. His pencil drawings (not shown) are completely amazing as well. He really knows values and can capture a scene relatively quickly. He started us off with the basics and then had us jumped into techniques.
i loved Rick's approach to teaching and the encouragment he offered his students. He told us to find what works for us, giving us his tips & tricks. One thing i absolutely adored was his watercolor jars. He squeezes his colors into these jars, especially when he finds a sale.
We also talked all about brushes and other tools used in watercolors. I love photos of brushes. So much potential in these beauties.
After lots of good basic information, we jumped into some exercises and basic techniques. Then we dove a little deeper and created some landscapes. I admit landscape paintings aren't what i want to do with watercolors necessarily but i had fun creating the above painting. i also think i was probably more advanced then this class, however there were light bulb moments which made the class totally worth taking. i jotted down notes & thoughts in my journal, filling a few pages full of new information. All in all it was an excellent day at the Art Student League and i am ready to take more classes.
