Painting for the Bin - My Tomato and Part 2

Painting for the Bin - My Tomato and Part 2, a photo by linfrye on Flickr.

1/8 Sheet Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

Jean's long anticipated workshop began on Saturday with Jean reviewing her philosophy and approach for painting watercolors, materials, paints, paper, brushes and the like.

Our first task was to warm up by 'painting for the bin'. In other words, our task was to paint simply to get the paint flowing freely and with abandon -- and all the time, WATCHING and LEARNING what pigment and water do on the paper. We reviewed the use of splatter (oh yes, I do LOVE to splatter!! LOL), adding salt, moving the paper around, adding water, trying colors that we normally don't use, using saran wrap to create textures, and the like. (One of these warm up exercises created my recently posted "Wash Out" (www.flickr.com/photos/linfrye/8151852150/).

After several of these, Jean suggested we visualize and paint a tomato ...simply, paint a tomato. The purpose of this exercise was to use water and pigment to create that fruit all the while learning -- and more -- ENJOYING -- again what is happening on the paper! To learn what each different pigment does on the paper, how it reacts to water, to salt, to the addition of more water. To learn to have a playful attitude toward a particular subject, to paint with that kind of joyousness that most often results in spontaneous, fresh and marvelous works. And we were to accept our painting events - the blooms, the runs and the like. Then Jean gave each of us a real tomato to paint the subject once again ... again painting with the same attitude and joy.

The tomato abve is my tomato attempt using the tomato in front of me as a guide. It was fun! And more, the pressure was off to 'produce a frameable' painting - since we were 'painting for the bin' ... with nothing more pressing than to simply enjoy AND LEARN from the process.

(Painting like this is so INVIGORATING and REENERGIZING and RECREATES the reason WHY we paint watercolors in the first place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bless you, Jean, for this gift!!!!)

The workshop continued with Jean demonstrating flowers, eyes, dogs, people and more. I cannot truly express what her enthusiasm and artistry gave to that room of watercolorists !!! We all were painting tomatoes and marveling at Jean's demos --- and each of us trying to replicate what we were learning with images of our own. (More on the next post.)

Jean's 'tomatoes' are shown below along with some of her demonstrations in process.

Jean suggested that we paint a tomato every day -- that doing so would teach us everything we needed to learn about watercolor, and all that we needed to learn would be in that single painting - and by the continual painting of the same subject day after day after day ...

(To learn more about Jean's philosophy, exercises, demonstrations and the like, please see:
www.jeanhaines.com And try her books and DVDs ... all of them marvelous!)

I will be offline much of the rest of this week and weekend as the annual Art of the Carolinas is going on in Raleigh. If you've never had a chance to enjoy this awesome event filled with workshops, a trade show with prices that are to die for, demonstrations and the like - hurry over or see www.artofthecarolinas.com/ for more information.

More to follow ...