Glorious Succulents come alive on paper!

- March 05, 2023

March 3 and 4 was a very fun time for 9 students and myself at the Lost Pines Art Center in Bastrop. We all recreated a complicated garden scene that included succulents of various shapes and sizes on a patterned background. We also threw in a garden hose and faucet just for fun! It was based on this original of mine titled "Low Water Crossing" , a 22'x30" painting that would take a longer time period. Instead I took sections of it and sketched these onto 140 # Strathmore watercolor paper (11x18) using a graphite transfer method.

Low Water Crossing

3 beginners to this medium were in my class with intermediate and even advanced watercolor painters. The workshop is geared toward beginners but not kindergarden...this is a college level approach for adults who have had some experience in other genres , sketching and painting and even pastel and colored pencil. They were amazingly adept and we reached our goal of having the entire background completed on Friday so that it could dry naturally overnight. On Saturday we had 2 critiques so that we could all see each other's progress and make suggestions. This is where I encouraged everyone to work at their own pace as we all have a little clock in us that should not be pushed to another time zone.

Background techniques included salt, alcohol, sponge and scoring among others. Each succulent offered the opportunity to vary our warm and cool colors and change values so that the principles of a good design were incorporated. I was impressed with their unique artwork and the personalities that were evident in their art.

And here they are...

Vicki