I am not inclined to enjoy painting classes online unless they are done in chunks of short amounts of time. Shari Blaukopf’s most recent class, Sketching Spring Flowers, is one such class. In fact, all her classes are very much like this. Her style of teaching and painting are very fresh and direct, and up front, I think she is one of the most talented and unique watercolorists of our time.
So, taking the first section of the class, we are doing a small batch of purple crocuses blooming in her garden, bright colors after a long, cold Montreal winter. Well, I have lived in cold places, have seen tulips and hyacinths emerge from the snow, but never have I seen a crocus. One day! Anyway, this is the first of her flower studies. I can only hope someone else can tell what it is supposed to be.
My own painting is a bit muddy-looking as far as I am concerned. My paints were not as fresh as hers, but that is not the point. It is more about learning technique. It is hard to paint something from a photograph, and hard, too, to paint something completely alien. However, technique and color mixing are the point. For instance, thick wet paint. Let water do the work in the lighter areas. The experience is the point – but my problem is I am hasty. This painting took me about an hour, watching the videos and thinking about things. I wonder if ever anything sinks in! Despite that, exercises like this are always valuable …
Shari Blaukopf class; crocus; watercolor on Arches CP 140#. About 8×8.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 
We had lots of purple, white, and yellow crocuses this spring in our central NC garden. They open in the sunlight and close up when the light goes.
Sounds like a lovely start to spring, Kathy!
And here, the crocuses come out in late January and February. We’re way past that now. There are hydrangeas and daylilies everywhere.
So pretty!
Pretty and loose watercolor
Thanks, Kit. Fun to do!
Spring must be lovely in the south – I always hear about it, but have never really seen it. On a different note, my tomatoes are beginning to set along with peppers, the bush beans are up along with squashes sending out their vines, and a new pepper plant has just emerged this morning. Flowers, too. The flower I am most excited about since I have never grown it are the moonflowers.