Hardy County Older 4-H Camp 2008

I'm an aging former 4-Her.

Despite my 4-H pedigree (10 very active years in Preston County, participating in camps, lots of conservation/wildlife activities, and focusing on incrementally more difficult sewing projects), I haven't been to any camp since 1991.

So I wondered on a steamy June morning how I had gotten myself into volunteering to teach watercolor at Older 4-H Camp. I had never before visited Hardy County's Camp Pinnacle facility, even though it's less than 5 miles from my house, and I haven't worked with any youth groups since my high school days.

As the hum of activity subsided in Dodd Hall that humid morning, I learned that only one student had signed up for my intensive 3-session class on watercolor.

But that quickly changed. One student was joined by another, then another. And all three caught on quickly and began to enjoy the introductory exercises I had planned.

We were using three brushes, a flat, a round, and a small round. Our paper was 140# cold press Canson Montval, acid free. It's the paper I'd used for years before switching to cotton-rag papers like Arches. Our paint was Winsor & Newton's Cotman brand, a high-quality "student" paint, again the same brand I had utilized for many years before switching to Winsor & Newton's Artists' Water Colour.

We worked through some opening exercises in which we stuck our proverbial toe in the water[color].

Then we jumped in.

The result? Three fine-looking sepia-toned landscapes, and three pleased young artists.

"I didn't know I had it in me," one pupil said.

A nice example of a sepia-toned landscape, the result of our first day of exercises at Camp Pinnacle. "I didn't know I had it in me," the student confided.	I lost one of my students a day early because she had to leave Older Camp for another commitment, but she happily displayed her paintings for me.

*****

During the next session, we were joined by two more students willing to test the waters. For this exercise we concentrated on mixing colors, and explored techniques of wet-into-wet washes to create a setting sunset over a darkening mountain silhouette.

Our mix of paint ran from Payne's Grey to Prussian Blue, and Alizarin Crimson Hue, followed by Cadmium Yellow. When that dried, we created the mountain silhouette with Payne's Grey, which included many washes of that dark, staining pigment, followed by small accents of VanDyke Brown in the foreground.

And the final verdict? Excellent again. Through what seemed a simple technique of overlapping washes, everyone's completed small, dramatic skyscape was markedly different. Even the two students who had joined us that morning had gotten great results from the technique.

"It looks like a postcard," one student said as she carefully pulled the tape away from her painting's four edges, obviously pleased with the outcome.

*****

An iris blossom takes shape during the last session of class at Camp Pinnacle.

The last day at camp came quickly.

The last exercise? A single purple iris.

To complete this painting, techniques included mixing colors, controlling individual brush strokes and carefully blending washes, as well as applying some blossoming effects by flooding water into wash areas. Only three colors were used for the painting: Prussian Blue, Alizarin Crimson Hue, and Cadmium Yellow (all Cotman brand). For this exercise we also switched from using the Canson Montval paper to Arches 140# cold press. I thought the cotton-rag paper could handle the necessary graduated washes better than the Montval could.

We created two purple washes from our Red and Blue pigments -- one tending toward the warmer Red, and one tending toward the cooler Blue. That interplay of using warm and cool variations added depth and interest to the flower.

We worked from light to dark, concentrating on areas within individual petals, then moving to the next petal while other sections dried. Flat washes made way for darkened shadowy areas within the petals, with those shadows smoothly blending back into the highlighted areas.

Finally, we added some very subtle veining to each petal for that realistic texture, and quickly completed the stem with a mixed green.

Again, everyone ended up with a very nice painting. Even the student who had lost a section of the white background with an accidental blossom had a good result. He saved his painting with a quickly brushed-in blue-green background, which set the foreground flower into high relief and really brought out the petals' highlights.

The student is using the fine, pointed brush to add subtle veins to the iris petals.	The quick addition of a dark background puts this blossom into high relief.	Soft, graduated washes add softness and a delicate texture to this finished iris.

*****

I'd like to thank my students at Camp Pinnacle for a great three-day session. I've never taught a watercolor class before, but the students' williness to learn and enthusiasm made this a wonderful experience for me. I hope they enjoyed the sessions as well.

I wasn't able to get photographs of everyone and of every painting. If anyone has some extra photographs he or she would like to share of the class, let me know. You can reach me through the "Contact the Artist" link at the bottom of this page.

How! How!