beginnings

Apart from grade school attempts, the above sketch is my very first try at watercolor. Which is a bit weird given how many art classes I took in high school. My teacher, a sweet Japanese lady named Annie Lowry, taught in a self-driven style, heavy on abstract art (which I’ve never liked). This style seems to work wonderfully for those knowing what direction they wished to explore — I was totally lost, being afraid to try anything and not knowing what types of art-making were available out there. I remember doing tons of contour and blind-contour sketches!

Then in 2005, I was invited to join an informal group meeting together in a Wichita church to play with watercolor. Usually some type of subject was selected and everyone would paint it, then share each other’s work. It was fun to see our different styles! This metal bowl of fruit was the subject for my first visit; I borrowed paints from the leader, John Lokke, and worked so slow that I never actually got to the metal bowl which was the main challenge of the evening. But I became instantly fascinated with watercolor and continued to attend this group (we called ourselves the Riverside Watercolor Society) until it later disbanded as John began to teach classes for pay.

Another evening, John’s wife brought an aquarium filled with hatching butterflies for us to paint. Jill was a teacher for gifted grade school students and these were brought home from class.

In the autumn of 2007 I attended my first sketch crawl, driving to Excelsior Springs, MO. This is also the day I met my dear friend Kate (Cathy Johnson), who had invited people on her mailing list to come sketch together. This is the scene I sketched that day, the back of some downtown buildings as seen from the historic Hall of Waters. I only got the pencil part down on location, adding watercolor later at home. Did I mention I tend to work slow?