Carol Sue Witt

   I  decided to take a closer look at advertising art. It uses color and bold shapes, borders and lettering to entice us to attend or want more of a certain subject. Along with bold colors, different sized pen nibs are also used to outline and dramatize designs. Motion Picture Studios have a long tradition of using their images to persuade attendance to upcoming movies using posters. and offer a lasting snapshot of the actors and maybe a scene or two. It’s also a great collectible. Many a home theater, college dorm room and early apartment has been decorated with these favorites.    Lettering  has long been a favorite study of mine. I learned several calligraphic alphabets over the years and have used the wonderful families of majuscules and minuscules of our 27 letters to create my own stylized alphabet. I encourage the use of this skill especially if you don’t like your own hand writing...you can do better!  The first poster will focus on the Texas ...

Sometimes it's just the simple scenes that are the most fun to paint. But let's be honest, this Ball jar vase with cut flowers (painted by another artist ) offers some complexities. That is what makes it an excellent project for a watercolor painting class. Not only do we have the background to create, but also water, stems, leaves and petals and a reflective glass jar. We have continued to use a Zoom class, as we are still social distancing, to create our end of June floral. Everyone was provided with a color and BW version of the image and instructions to have the scene sketched and masked before our class. I want to mention that there were 9 in attendance , including a family member,my daughter in law, Anne, and they ranged from new to watercolor to advanced painters just wanting to try some new techniques.I was especially pleased to have my longtime friend and fellow artist, Sue Rinker, primarily an oil painter join us for a little fun with another genre.   I usually demon...

Peonies ( continued) Well, since the pandemic is keeping us at home for awhile, we decided to continue meeting this way. There is a value to having more time to absorb the information and paint. Our May class, as usual was a combination of beginner and advanced watercolor artists  local Texans and also from Colorado who completed this lovely artwork. We did an under painting using 3 colors: Hansa Yellow, Permanent Rose and Cobalt Blue as well as salt for texture before defining the leaves and stems, later soft petals and centers. The outcomes were all good. I suggested note cards ( easy using Vistaprint,  Shutterfly and other online sources ) and I am happy to say some went forward with this idea. Here are my notes and images.                                                                        ...

I was planning two exciting work shops. One as the featured watercolor artist in Bastrop, Texas at Lost Pines Art Center during a long week-end in March and the other in Marble Falls in early April. Both had nice sized classes arranged and I was prepared when ...oops!  along came a pandemic. There go the best made plans and those preparations were no longer needed. Eventually both events were reluctantly cancelled along with two planned trips, one to Nashville and one to San Francisco.  Needless to say, everyone's plans were changed! That, as it turned out, was the least of our concerns. Many were afflicted and died, many in the healthcare industry became beyond overworked, many lost jobs, many ( who knew?) were living on the brink and required immediate assistance even with their next meal. No schooling, no graduations, no airline travel, cruising is OUT....it all ground to a complete and lengthy HALT. Grocery stores were wiped out, toilet paper and meat now rationed and smog...

Just when I thought I was making plans for two work shops, along came a global epidemic. Let me first apologize to my eager beginning watercolor students who got halted in their tracks! The conference at Lost Pines Art Center will go on this Fall as will the class at Art School MarbleFalls but I’m encouraging you to jump in before then and try some of my online practices through this blog. We can communicate and discuss until we meet in person....and it’s free from me to you. The supplies will cost you but all can be purchased online and delivered to your door. Be sure to contact me. The February blog has instructions for “ Texas Roadside Beauties”. My April blog will be devoted to “ Barns, Bluebonnets and Babies”. In this crazy time period of social distancing, and more, one thing remains perfectly unchanged....blue skies, chirping birds and spring blooms are everywhere! I don’t know about you, but it makes me want to grab some of that resilience that occurs each Spring even after t...

Galleries at Pecan Creek in Marble Falls was once again my choice for a one day work shop. Debbie Heatley is a great organizer and I love joining forces with her at her studio. We had some returnees and also 5 brand new artists who jumped in to try a new method. I provided the sketch on 140 # watercolor paper for each artist. Here is our completed image in color. A black and white copy is a time saving value study which is always recommended. The instruction sheet also reminds us of our order in this process and the colors and tools we used.                     " Deer Me, It's Winter!"                        Creating a watercolor tapestry                       This is an ambitious project to try to complete in one day. I do NOT want you to rush or feel hurried b...

Hi, all! What a wonderful time to be painting ...especially if you want to grow in the Watercolor Medium. We not only have more super colors, better papers and great current artists to help us get our thoughts on paper but we also have new ideas about old “absolutes”. For example, if you were told, as I was, that pure sable brushes which are extremely expensive are THE BEST, look out for all the synthetic hairs that are taking over. The ability to hold paint and moisture and keep a good Point has been challenged and guess who is winning. I’m recommending you consider the synthetic brushes made by the quality brush makers such as Escoda, Windsor Newton and Black Silver. Their signature lines have won me over. My new favorite go to brush is a pointed filbert by Escoda. Love this brush! On a personal note, I just handed over the reins as President of Waterloo Watercolor Group in Austin after a 2 year run from 2017-2019. It was an honor, never a nuisance and got me out there to many more...