Rip it Up and Throw it Out?

June 24, 2021 1 Comment

**Metal and Petals** 8 1/2” x 7 1/2” watercolor on watercolor paper

We’ve all arrived there. You look at the progress on your drawing or painting and you see no way to salvage it. You see no way but to throw it out and start over again. The above painting arrived at that point. I saw no other way. Chuck it in the garbage and throw it away.

‘But there is an advantage to going ahead and finishing the painting. You take a look at what you have and decide. What do I need to add to this painting to get it to work? Do I need to add some rich darks? Do I need to paint over the unfinished parts of the painting to cover up the white of the paper so I can more fully see the values? Do I need to refine some of the shapes? Maybe lift off in places?

There is an advantage to just finishing the painting. There are things to be learned by the completion of your project. Sometimes the refining process at the end of the painting takes some time and patience. That may be what you need to learn.

And so I finished the painting. There is a very nice mood to this painting. Something I would have missed if I had thrown it out. It captured the age of the old rusted metal wheelbarrow. And once again the words I tell my students and workshop attendees came ringing back into my ears, “Why don’t you just finish the painting. Just get it done and then hide it in a drawer for a week and take a second look at it “

WARNING: Some paintings might have to be hid in a drawer for longer than a week. But it will be finished. I’m glad I didn’t throw this one out.

June 9, 2021 No Comments

Is There Only One Way to Tell The Story?

I’ve always loved telling stories. Whether it is with a nice watercolor painting or as I create characters for children’s books, it’s the telling of the story with art that I love. I’ve bounced back and forth between the two. The children’s book illustrations have detail. The watercolor paintings can be big enough to allow freedom of brushstrokes. It’s a good combination.

The one has influenced the other. When I’ve been working on a picture book, things seem to come into my life that have an influence on the book. The elements and principals of art can improve both children’s book illustration and watercolor paintings. Things learned in a watercolor workshop end up influencing my illustrations. Imagination is used for both. It’s very satisfying to start with a picture you see in your head and watch it appear on your sketch book and become refined with watercolor.

Detail from illustration of Baby Bear

Treasures in Cardboard

June 2, 2021 5 Comments

“Red Poppy Trailhead” 58”x23” Watercolor with varnished finish.

When we left for our mission to Hawaii, I had a couple of paintings at a show down in St. George. My daughter picked them up when the show was over. They leaned against the wall in my studio. We returned to our home in the middle of covid and we were still teaching some online classes for BYU Hawaii so I never unboxed the paintings. I couldn’t remember which painting was in the big cardboard box. Like meeting an old friend after a long parting, this painting emerged from hiding. We put it up above our fireplace. One of the fun things about creating paintings is that there is a variety of paintings to display In your home while they are waiting for just the right buyer.

It’s also fun to see paintings and prints find a new home. As artists we create to share our love for the beauties in this world and how we see them. It is nice that they can bring joy to others. Sometimes they send me pictures to show me how they’ve framed them. Thanks to Kris for finding a new home for the giclee print “On The Road To Emmaus.” Here’s a picture of how it’s looking.

“On The Road To Emmaus” 8”x10.5” giclee print on canvas of watercolor and collage

Here is a link to a BYU Hawaii devotional.

And a link to the Utah Watercolor Society

#watercolor #paintings #utahwatercolorsociety #BYU Hawaiidevotional #watercolortreasures

The Benefits of a Good Workshop

May 26, 2021 2 Comments

*Peonies in a Mason Jar painted by Sherry Meidell in a Sarah Yeoman Workshop*

Usually I’m not afraid to put paint to paper but at the Sarah Yeoman Workshop, I stood there looking at my painting and debated. I’ve read to all my students the quotes from the “Art and Fear” book, but I had just put down a free watercolor painting of peonies and a nice, free rendering of the mason jar. I was pleased with the results. It was on a half sheet of watercolor paper. Everything had gone right from the sketch to the color choices. Now Sarah was asking me to put in a background in a way I had never done before and I was worried my whole painting would end up in the toilet. There is that moment of hesitation …………and then I went for it.

I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. Courage, experimenting, and learning things from other amazing artists can cause a continued growth in your watercolor painting. Membership in a Society of other artists can provide opportunities for workshops and demos. The workshop with Sarah Yeoman was provided through the Utah Watercolor Society. Sarah gave it her all. Even though it was over zoom, there was a connection with the teacher and the students. The background added emotion and freedom to the painting.

So painting watercolors is a part of being an artist. Sometimes you have to be in front of the camera. My paintings were hung at City Hall while I was gone with my husband on our mission to BYU Hawaii. I was supposed to talk about my art at a meeting where the city was invited. But due to covid restrictions West Bountiful City recorded the story behind some of my paintings. Here is the link for that video:

Utah Watercolor Society

Sarah Yeoman Website

#watercolor #utahwatercolorsociety #sarahyeoman #westbountifulcityartscouncil #artandfear #courageinpainting

Is there a trick to learning watercolor?

April 7, 2021 4 Comments

I remember in junior high loving the way watercolor went on the paper. I was painting flowers and the way the paint mixed with the water was beautiful. My use of watercolor was sporadic. Later on I thought that watercolor would make brighter illustrations for children’s books than the guache I was using. So off to a watercolor class.

There are a lot of rules with watercolor and some myths out there like watercolor is so unforgiving. When I took that first watercolor class, the paint was not doing what I wanted it to do. My painting didn’t look like I wanted it to look like. It was frustrating. At that point if I had listened to my frustrations, I would have quit the painting and missed out on years of joy discovering watercolor.

Sometimes the best way to learn something is to dive in and use the medium. That’s what I did with watercolor, I dived in and learned how the paint mixed with the water. I learned what happened if I added more water and I saw what happened when the paint was added fresh to a wet spot on the painting. I have a lot of tools in my watercolor toolbox. Mostly I learned from the day to day painting of the things that grabbed my attention. So now do I know everything there is to know about watercolor? No. That is the joy of a creative life. There is always something else to learn.

After the Critique

March 10, 2021 4 Comments

Robert Henri, in the book “The Art Spirit” said, “The technique learned without a purpose is a formula which when used, knocks the life out of any ideas to which it is applied.”

So there is a lot of self direction in art. What you learn from a critique should lead you in a direction of self improvement. A lot of the changes in my art have come about from a serendipitous popping of ideas into my head. All those things that I learn are bubbling around in my head just waiting for me to pull them out and use them. So when I recognize a problem with my art, it’s like when I recognize a problem in my life, I try to see what I need to do to become a better, kinder person. I say to myself, what if I tried this? Would this make me a better artist? What if I didn’t have negative thoughts about the neighbors’s pet pig who is eating my butternut squash out of my garden, would that make me a better person? Life and art is a journey of discovery.

There is great joy to be found in the journey. Another quote from Robert Henri, “Order is perceived by the man with a creative spirit. It is achieved by the man who sincerely attempts to express himself and thus naturally follows organic law.”

What are you doing to creatively attempt to express yourself?

#RobertHenri #TheArtSpirit #critiques #art #watercolor #improvingyourart

© 2022 SherryMeidell.com

THE BLOG