This fall, during ten watercolour workshops held at my Lindsay studio, at Meta4 Gallery in Port Perry, and at Colborne Street Gallery in Fenelon Falls, I had the pleasure of guiding 60 students on their painting journeys.

I pack a lot of learning into every class I teach, and enjoy working with students who are keen to absorb and put into practice all the techniques and advice I share with them while we paint together. My students produced some amazing paintings, and I learned some new things along the way too. Below is a photo of me demonstrating a 2-brush technique.

My most popular workshops teach beginners how to paint smooth beach pebbles. This is a great subject for people without much (or any) art experience, because smooth stones are very easy to draw and the colours don't have to be accurate. As with all my classes, I show how to mix colours for a painting using only the three primary pigments red, blue, and yellow. Pictured below are the graduating students from my 'Pebbles' workshops.

Another popular class subject was 'Island Reflections', taught as a 2-day beginner workshop, once in my studio and once at Colborne Street Gallery. Each student made his or her own unique interpretation based on a reference photo. Shown below is a photo of students working on their paintings in my studio, followed by the graduation photos.

'Misty Lake and Canoe' was a popular class for intermediate level students, held in my Lindsay studio and again at Meta4 Gallery. We worked from multiple reference photos so each student could compose a unique, imaginary scene. Shown below are the graduating students proudly displaying their paintings.

I taught a 'Rocky Shore' 2-day class again this year, as it was so popular last fall that I had a full waiting list. Shown below are students working on their paintings in my studio, and then the graduation photo.

I taught a three-day 'Driftwood Beach' workshop for intermediate/advanced students, that produced amazing results. We all used similar reference photos of the beach and added our own version of driftwood. This scene was a very challenging subject to paint and everyone had fun while learning new skills. Pictured below are my students working on their paintings in my studio, and the graduation photo. 

Thank you to all my students, who made a watercolour journey with me this fall. I felt like I learned some things along the way, and I think my students felt the same. It is great to spend time with keen painters.

My next watercolour workshops (1-day, 2-day, or 3-day) will run from mid October to the end of November, 2020.

Subscribe to Karen's Newsletter if you wish to see more painting tips, travel tales, studio news updates, or notices of upcoming painting classes and exhibitions.

By the time I finished teaching my fall watercolour workshops at the end of November, I had many partially-completed demonstration paintings. My studio was full of 'unfinished business', and I find this visual clutter makes it difficult for me to concentrate. So, in December I got cracking and completed the six paintings shown here. (Click on the pictures for more details about each painting.)

The first three artworks shown here were used to demonstrate painting smooth stones in my Pebbles 1-2-3 single-day workshops. The painting above, 'Canada Rocks #1' includes a collection of reddish pebbles with a red maple leaf resting on a weathered board and represents a rustic version of the Canadian flag. I had such fun painting this one that I came up with a few ideas for other versions of the flag. I'll be working on those this winter.

The second pebble painting, 'Superior Lady' (shown above), was inspired by the beautiful beach stones of Lake Superior.  Click here to read about my recent Lake Superior trips and the other paintings they have inspired.

In this painting, I included an American Painted Lady. This is a very common butterfly whose habitat ranges from the sub-arctic to Mexico, east of the Rockies. I deliberately kept the stone colours cool and muted, so the golden tones of this elegant butterfly would shine. 

The remaining pebble painting, 'Superior Monarch' (shown above), also uses Lake Superior beach stones for inspiration, and includes a Monarch butterfly. I had a buyer for this piece before it was even finished, a gentleman who gave it to his wife for Christmas because she was from Sault Ste. Marie (a city on Lake Superior) and was raising Monarchs last summer. I hear she really liked the painting and I am glad it found a home with such an appropriate collector.

'Arrived' (shown above), was the demonstration painting from a three-day advanced workshop. One of my long-time students donated her shell collection so we could use actual objects to paint from (rather than photos). The detail in this piece is incredible, with hundreds of grains of sand, beach glass, stones, and intricate shells. I definitely needed my reading glasses to finish this one!

I taught a two-day workshop with this pile of maple leaves on a forest floor as the subject. I called this painting 'By the Sugar Shack' and emphasized the colour contrasts between the newly-fallen red leaf and the older faded leaves. As in all of my paintings, I mixed every colour I needed by combining the three primary colours (red, blue, and yellow). Adding all the blemishes to make the leaves look real took a lot of time, but I liked the result when I was done.

Of these six recent works, the painting shown above, 'Superior Strength', is the one to which I feel the strongest connection. It began as my demonstration piece for an advanced watercolour class at Meta4 Gallery in Port Perry. The students and I worked on our paintings for six weeks at class, with homework in between, and still had several days of work at the end to complete the scene. There is an incredible amount of detail in the trees of the far shore, the cracked and lichen-spotted rocks of the foreground, and the reflective-yet-transparent water in the puddles on the rocks. It was very gratifying to see this master work purchased by one of my collectors, a long-time friend, as a Christmas gift for her parents.

This winter, I look forward to creating more new paintings and sharing with you the stories behind them.

Which painting is your favourite? If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post. 

Subscribe to Karen's Newsletter if you wish to see more painting stories, travel tales, studio news updates, or notices of upcoming painting classes and exhibitions.

This spring, during watercolour workshops at my Lindsay studio, I had the pleasure of painting with 25 students.

Half of them were in my Pebbles 1-2-3 one-day workshops. Here are the graduation photos from those beginner level sessions. Notice all the smiles! In the first photo, you can see my demonstration painting in the foreground.

Another popular subject was Weathered Wood and Stones, a 2-day workshop that ran twice. I included some 'action' shots below.

Isn't it remarkable how different each painting is, even though we used the same reference photo? We used actual stones for individual inspiration. The photos below are from the second version of the class.

I taught a three-day Sea Shells on Sand workshop for intermediate/advanced students, that produced amazing results. Rather than a reference photo, we used actual shells (donated by one of the students), as well as sea glass and bits of driftwood, to make unique creations. Pictured below are me and my students with our paintings well underway.

Pictured below is a finished painting by one of my students:

And here is my finished demonstration painting Seaside Treasures, including a few detail shots:

Click here for more details about Seaside Treasures.

Thank you to all my students, who made a watercolour journey with me this spring. Together, we learned a lot!

My Fall 2018 Workshops (1-day, 2-day, or 3-day) will run within the mid October to end of November time frame and will feature some of the same popular subjects that I taught in the spring. Click here to see the workshop schedule.

Subscribe to Karen's Newsletter if you wish to see more painting tips, travel tales, studio news updates, or notices of upcoming painting classes and exhibitions.

Last fall, I created this watercolour painting from a photo taken in Nova Scotia during our 2017 Maritime trip.

I love the apparent simplicity of this composition, with three smooth pebbles sitting in a cleft of weathered driftwood. But the image implies a more complex meaning to me; one of shelter, security, togetherness, and family.

When the painting was completed, I posted a picture of it on Facebook, to ask my online friends for suggestions for a title. The image got a strong response, with about 50 title ideas coming forward. The one I selected was 'Fitting In', but I made note of all the suggestions, to use on future paintings I am creating in a series about cracks and crevices. An artist friend also suggested I add a living creature to the driftwood cleft, peeking over the stones. Hmmm... food for thought.

Then I entered 'Fitting In' in the This Is Home painting competition, sponsored by Artwork Archive. My artwork took first place with over 800 votes on Facebook, winning the Voter's Choice award of US$300. A few weeks later, two of my paintings, including 'Fitting In', were accepted into the PineRidge Arts Council 18th Annual Juried Art Exhibition (shown above). This competition had 190 pieces submitted by 103 artists, with only 65 paintings being accepted into the show by the juror.

During this time, I recognized that this image would be an excellent subject for a watercolour class, allowing me to teach several key aspects, such as choosing a focal point, contrasting light and dark, depicting smooth and rough textures, and mixing subdued colours, to name a few.

So this spring, I taught this subject twice in classes held in my Lindsay studio, and my instincts were correct; my students LOVED painting this scene and learning all I could impart along the way. They used actual stones from my rock collection as reference, to make their creations unique.

Here are photos of my students with their finished pieces:

Several of the students made comments after class:

"I learn so much when I take workshops with you. You have such a fantastic knowledge base. You explain the why as well as the how! Painting in your studio, surrounded by your incredible paintings, is such an inspiration. And you are a joy as a teacher! Thanks a million for an incredible time!" ~Diane S.

"We had such a wonderful time. I learned SO much about handling watercolour and how to achieve different textures. The "ah ha" moment for me was learning how to mix all those subtle colours from just three primaries. Karen is an awesome teacher who is able to convey so much of her knowledge and experience to her students." ~Jan Z.

"Thank you so much for the whole experience. It was such an inspiring and educational two days. I know that is due to your organization, presentation and overall thoughtfulness of your students. I did not really believe I could leave that workshop with a piece of art that resembled what Jan had shown me after she attended the 'Pebbles' workshop. What an amazing feeling that was... Thank you again for sharing your expertise and delighting in the pleasure that your 'gift' brings others." ~Roz G.

I made a new demonstration painting during each session, to show the students various painting techniques, and I decided to add a living creature to each one, to make paintings that were different from my first version. Here are the three paintings shown as a series:

In considering appropriate titles, I first came up with 'Fitting In', 'Sitting In', and 'Flitting In' for the series. Then I thought, since possibly these three paintings will end up in the hands of separate collectors, the humour might be lost. I decided a more appropriate title for the version with the squirrel would be 'Curiosity', and for the version with the butterfly, 'A Moment's Rest'. I would love to hear your thoughts on titles.

These three paintings, part of a group of almost 40 pieces, will be on display at my Spring Open Studio (weekend of April 28 and 29, 1 to 5 pm) in Lindsay. I hope you can meet the trio in person. One can't help but smile when seeing them.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please let Karen know by clicking on the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

Subscribe to Karen's Newsletter if you wish to see more of her painting stories, travel tales, studio news updates, or notices of upcoming painting classes and exhibitions.

At the end of last year, I took some time to catch up on paperwork in my studio office, finish some framing, and do a general studio tidy-up. Once that was done, everything looked so uncluttered and clean I took some photos to show you what a working artist's studio looks like. I also want to share with you some key features that make my creative space both comfortable and efficient. Welcome to your personal virtual studio tour!

When you come down the stairs to enter my studio, you see the panorama shown above. It is an L-shaped space, with my creative area on the left and my gallery and teaching space on the right.

Our home is a bungalow with 8' ceilings on both levels. In the lower level, large above-ground windows face west and north, to fill the space with light so it doesn't feel like a basement. We added four 2' x 4' LED ceiling light fixtures that greatly enhance the natural illumination.

The photo above shows my studio office. The desk and black file cabinet on the right house my computer and day-to-day office files and reference binders. On top are white photo storage boxes containing reference photos I have taken, sorted by subject matter and season. I take thousands of photos but just print the ones I think I may use as painting reference some day.

The white bookcase on the left mainly holds my collection of painting technique reference books, plus office stationary. The glass doors keep the dust out and make it easy to find what I'm looking for. The window in the middle is the one on which my wild turkey visitor knocked last month.

The photo above shows my office and creative space. On the left is my trusty collapsible print rack that I take to art shows as well as use in the studio, to display my giclee prints and matted paintings. The small bookshelf in front displays Watercolour Toolbox, the art instruction book I wrote. On top of the desk hutch is the satellite radio receiver that supplies whatever genre of music I choose, to keep me company as I work. Mostly I listen to soft rock or quiet jazz.

On the back wall is the tiny gas fireplace we added to this space, to make it cosy in cooler weather. I have it on all day, every day in winter. To the right of that, under the north window, is the drafting table where I do most of my painting. The working surface is 3' x 4', large enough for a full sheet of watercolour paper plus reference photos displayed to the sides.

In front of that is a desk credenza just over 5' long, that is very handy for assembling frames or doing any job needing a large horizontal surface. When one of my painting buddies comes here, she works at this desk while I paint at the drafting table.

To the right of my drafting table is an Ikea cabinet I bought over 30 years ago. It primarily stores unused framing materials, painting supports, paint palettes, paint tubes, and rags. The photo above shows it with the doors open. The adjustable shelves are 24" x 30", so this cabinet stores a lot of stuff.

Continuing around my creative space to the right, I have a black flat file cabinet that holds an astounding amount of watercolour paper, paintings in progress, brushes and other art supplies, office supplies, giclee prints, art card supplies, and archival bags. I bought this used metal cabinet from one of my framing suppliers when they no longer needed it, and I had it repainted at an automotive paint shop. Each of the ten drawers is 2' x 3' inside, so that is 60 square feet of horizontal storage in total. I love the efficiency of this cabinet! 

Around the corner to the right is my painting display space. I have professional grade wall hooks spaced 24" apart horizontally, with a second row 20" below the top row. This layout fits most sizes of finished paintings, without having to move hooks, although some of the larger pieces may cover two hooks.

My display space shown above consists of three walls, one 10 feet wide, one 12 feet wide, and one 8 feet wide. There is a short hallway to the right with display walls 2 feet and 6 feet wide. This gives me a total of 38 linear feet of gallery space. This is also the room I use for teaching my watercolour workshops. I teach up to five students at a time, and we each work on a 2' x 4' portable table. The photo below shows a typical class (and a different display of paintings).

No art studio or teaching space would be complete without a bathroom. In the photo below, you can see the bathroom we added on this level when we renovated. I also display a couple of finished paintings in there.

This completes the tour of the public area of my studio practice. The photos below show more studio storage and equipment that is in our furnace room and not accessible to the public (except on this virtual visit).

Shown above is my wonderful automotive storage rack. Each shelf is capable of supporting up to 500 lbs. This rack stores my painting transport boxes, shipping materials, business records, bulk storage of Watercolour Toolbox books, art show lighting equipment, framing materials, as well as some household items. Those 13 binders on the right are scrapbooks that document my entire art career to date (paintings, awards, shows, etc.). All this on a bit of floor measuring 2' x 6'.

Below, also in the furnace room, is my mat- and cardboard-cutting table. The slots underneath store mat board, and painting transport boxes, bags, and portfolios. The drawers hold my framing hardware, tools, and equipment.

I hope you have enjoyed your personal virtual art studio tour. I hope to see you in person in my studio at some point in the future.Visitors are welcome by appointment, or during an Open Studio event.

If you have any ideas, questions, or comments to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

Subscribe to Karen's Newsletter if you wish to learn more about the life of a professional artist, travel tales, or notices of upcoming painting classes and exhibitions. 

This year, during watercolour workshops at my Lindsay studio, and weekly classes at Meta4 Gallery in Port Perry, I had the pleasure of painting with almost 100 students.

Over one third of them were in my Pebbles 1-2-3 one-day workshops, held in my Lindsay studio in spring and fall. Here are photos from those beginner level workshops. Notice all the smiles:

In this final Pebbles 1-2-3 grad photo below, you can see my demonstration painting (Time to Head South) in the foreground:

These students below were in my 2-day beginner Tulips class:

I taught a Muskoka Lily 2-day intermediate level class twice. My finished demonstration painting is titled Stillwater Lily (click here to view).

Here are me and my students in a 3-day advanced level Lake Superior Bay class:

These students below are working on their Hollyhocks and Stone paintings in my 3-day advanced level class. My finished demonstration painting is titled Hollyhock and Stone (click here to view).

Below are me and my students in a 3-day intermediate level Flag Iris class:

The photos below are graduation photos from my 6-week class sessions at Meta4 Gallery in Port Perry.

Northern Reflections: (Click here to view my finished demonstration painting)

White Breasted Nuthatch: (Click here to view my finished demonstration painting.)

Snow and Stone: (Click here to view my finished demonstration painting.)

Blue Jay:

Thank you to all my students, who made a watercolour journey with me in the last year. Together, we learned a lot!

My Spring 2018 classes will run from mid March to the end of April. Registration will open in February, and I will email you the schedule then if you are subscribed to my studio updates. (New subscribers may join using the link below. You can unsubscribe at any time.)

Subscribe to Karen's Newsletter if you wish to see more painting tips, travel tales, studio news updates, or notices of upcoming painting classes and exhibitions.

In my previous post, I told the story of our camping trip to Lake Superior this summer. Although I am in the midst of teaching watercolour techniques to over 50 students this fall, I have carved out some private painting time in my studio, inspired by my Lake Superior trip photos.

The painting above, Clarity (watercolour, 28 x 11"), was the first major work inspired by this trip. I used several experimental techniques and am excited with the result. The scene depicts a view from the coastal trail near Rossport, on the north shore of Lake Superior. The water is so clear, it becomes almost impossible to tell if rocks are above or below the surface. I'll let you decide.

I made a short time lapse video, showing how this painting grew from start to finish. Click on the arrow below to view:

Click here to see more information about Clarity.

For my second Lake Superior painting, Time to Head South (watercolour 16 x 20") shown below, I was able to combine the activities of teaching and producing a major piece of artwork. I began by drawing the two Monarch butterflies and the autumn leaf in pencil on my watercolour paper. Then I drew in the stone shapes as a background.

During three of my one-day Pebbles 1-2-3 beginner workshops, I used this composition as my demonstration painting. I shaded and coloured the stones, working around the butterfly and leaf shapes. I used my Lake Superior trip photos as inspiration for the specific stone markings.

As with all of my paintings, every colour in the painting was mixed from primary red, blue, and yellow paints. Once the background was finished, after the third workshop, I painted the Monarchs and leaf.

The title, Time to Head South, refers to the annual fall migration of Monarchs, to their winter habitat in the mountains of Mexico. I hope we see lots of their descendants here in Ontario next summer.

Click here to see more information about Time to Head South.

These paintings are just the beginning of my Superior collection. I look forward to sharing more of them with you.

Subscribe to Karen's Newsletter if you wish to see more painting stories, travel tales, studio news updates, or notices of upcoming painting classes and exhibitions.

This spring, I taught a 3-day Hollyhock and Stone watercolour class, for intermediate and advanced students. We each chose different reference photos and painted different blossom colours. I chose a pink and burgundy mix (shown above) for my demonstration painting, with a finished size of 16 x 12".

We began by drawing our composition on layout paper (using proportional squares to enlarge the photo image), then tracing that drawing onto our 300 lb watercolour paper using graphite transfer paper. Then we masked out the fine veins inside the flowers with masking fluid to preserve the white paper.

For my paints, I wanted to evaluate a new (to me) brand of watercolour paint - Schmincke, which is made in Germany. I chose Helio Blue Reddish, Permanent Carmine, and Gamboge Gum Modern as my three primary colours, and mixed all of the painting colours from these three. I loved the smoothness of this brand, and look forward to doing more paintings with my Schmincke paints.

I find the most successful method for painting plant life is to work up the shadows in gradual layers, and adding a coat of brighter overall colour at the end. When the first shadow layer is dry, the next layer adds deeper colour, just in the darker shadow areas. The photo above shows the flowers after three layers and the green buds and stems after two layers.

In the photo above, I have added one more shadow layer on the green buds and stems, followed by a bright green glaze over all the green parts. When this was dry, I painted the cement mortar of the stone wall with a two-tone tan.

In the photo above, my students are pictured in my studio, working on their hollyhock compositions. My demonstration painting is at the bottom, and you can see several of my favourite #12 round sable/synthetic brushes beside my painting.

Once the mortar sections had dried, I wet each building stone, dropped in two paint colours, and then sprinkled on salt to produce a mineral effect. I used a cool neutral mix (blue-gray), and a warm neutral mix (brown-gray). Once this was fully dry, I brushed off the salt. Then, using a dark gray mixture, I added some shadowy cracks between the mortar sections, and some subtle shadows to make the mortar look less flat.

In the photo above, I have added shadows across the faces of the stones, using a charcoal gray-black (mixed from the primaries), and added more shadow details to the mortar. I removed the masking fluid from the petals and washed over them with a pale watery pink to change the veins from white to pale pink.

We're on the home stretch now. I deepened the burgundy colours around the centre of the main flower and added some soft shadows to the upper petals. I added a soft blue wash over some of the stones to create a greater variety of stone colours. I added a very watery blue glaze over the mortar to make it less dominant.

This completed painting Hollyhock and Stone, watercolour 16 x 12",  will be on display at my solo exhibition at The Shipyards in Gravenhurst from July 28 to August 11, 2017.

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Last fall, I enjoyed six weeks of teaching watercolour to a total of 30 students, at my studio in Lindsay, and at Meta4 Gallery in Port Perry. Here are some graduation photos.

My 'Island in the Storm' (2-day beginner/novice) class ran twice and it was amazing to see such excellent and varied interpretations from our reference photos:

My 'Pebbles 1-2-3' (absolute beginner) class also ran twice, as shown in the two photos below.

One of the students had this to say the next day: "Thanks very much Karen.  What a wonderful space you have to create!  I am so inspired and excited to see where this path takes us!!  I spent the evening in my studio last night and did a second copy of what we did yesterday and read half your book already lol.  I'm going to play this week in the evenings to just move paint around a little and get more comfortable.  I'm so inspired!  Thank you so very much for lighting this in me! ... Thanks so much for the wonderful introduction to watercolour.  I can't wait for the next Class!"

Shown below are the grads from my 'Underwater Stones' 3-day intermediate level class, with their wonderful paintings well underway (to be completed at home):

Here I am pictured below with some of the students in my 'Cedar Waxwing' intermediate level 6-week class:

Last fall, I donated a free class for five students to Soroptimist International of Kawartha Lakes, for auction at their Snowflake Gala. Pictured below are the winning bidders, enjoying their class with me in my studio last month. We had a blast!

One of the students wrote to me after class and confided: "The watercolour class was so much fun and hard, too.  I loved the challenge.  I never thought I could feel that successful on my first lesson."

Another student wrote: "I want to thank you again for a very inspiring, and exciting day!  We were all pleasantly surprised at how our artwork turned out, and you definitely made us feel comfortable so we all had fun. Thanks so much!"

Thank you to all my students, who made a watercolour journey with me in the last few months. Together, we learned a lot!

Click here to see Karen's class schedule.

Subscribe to Karen's Newsletter if you wish to see more painting tips, travel tales, studio news updates, or notices of upcoming painting classes and exhibitions.