Last week I spent three days at a painting retreat with about 30 members of Northwest Watercolor Society (NWWS). We were hosted at Samish Island Campground and Retreat Center, a church camp.
Three days of uninterrupted painting with other watercolor painters is a painter’s dream. We didn’t have to cook, clean, or be distracted by the myriad everyday tasks of home. All we had to do was paint.
I set up my mini-studio at a table next to other painters and made about a dozen paintings. I was especially stimulated seeing the paintings of my fellow artists, and learning from them. For some reason, I felt freed up to experiment with new approaches to painting. When I finished a painting, I taped it up on the wall alongside the paintings of others. The wall was filled with all manner of watercolors, a delight for the eyes. Everyone was very kind and supportive.
A DOZEN! My goodness! Were you relying on memory, or previous paintings, or . . . .? I see your colors are lighter and brighter here! I’m not familiar with the location of your retreat, so don’t know what your actual circumstances might have been. Quite something to imagine such constant painting!
Good question, Nancy. Before the retreat, I harvested a whole lot of source photos that I’ve taken, and had them ready to use as references. Whenever I travel, I look for interesting scenes to paint. I take lots of photos and save them in folders in my computer.
Beautiful! The colors are awesome! It brings me great joy just seeing your amazing work. I hope to one day see them in some sort of art museum. Then I can say “Hey, I know that artist!”
Thank you, Carol! I’m glad you like my watercolors. I have such fun painting them.
Just woke up from a nap and found your note. Thanks. I am preoccupied with a longing to move out of the area where I have spent the last 12 years!!!! I have an art room downstairs, but the heat hasn’t worked well this year. It worked ok other years. I gave my kiln to Habitat about a year ago, because the landlord was available to help me carry those heavy sections up my steep hill to the garage. I was afraid I couldn’t stay up all night to monitor the kiln temps any longer!!! I’ve been looking through my 2-D and 4 D work and wanting to dig in there, but so many of my favorite people from various art worlds have died lately, I just feel sad–but don’t want to make sad pottery and sad paintings. I need to do something with the sadness. n Am thinking moving might help. I love the natural world here, but long for another human one.
Sorry to hear about the sadness that is weighing you down. Moving might help, but that’s a big decision not to be taken lightly. Hope you can find a good solution.
How does an indoor watercolor retreat work? Did you just imagine scenes? You must have done 2 paintings per half-day. That’s quite a lot isn’t it? You were fortunate to have this experience.
I should have said that I downloaded reference photos to my iPad and brought that with me. So I had lots of sources to work from, and I could go from one to the next.
I often find myself spending time searching for good subjects when I’m painting in my studio, so I knew I had to have some references at hand when I got to the retreat.
It sounds like an amazing time, the freedom to create and the synergy of others creating! Love your work Bill, thank you for sharing.
Yes, it was a lot of fun. Synergy works!