Bill Fulton

Watch, paint, review. Watch, paint, review. That was my week last week. I spent four days in Long Beach, WA, at a watercolor painting workshop by Eric Wiegardt.

The thing I enjoyed most was the camaraderie among the students in the workshop. I already knew Eric and eight of the seventeen students, so I felt right at home from the opening hugs. Everyone in the group seemed to fit together, and I enjoyed talking with everyone.

Every morning Eric painted a demonstration watercolor while explaining his technique. Then all seventeen of us students attempted to paint the same subject, bearing in mind all that Eric said. This process was repeated in the afternoon, followed by a critique of one of our paintings by Eric.

What did I learn at this workshop that I didn’t learn at the three previous plein air workshops I have taken with Eric?

Probably the most helpful thing for me was to simply watch how he uses his brush to grab pigment off his palette, mix it, and apply it to the paper. His emphasis on using wet pigment, his mixing of colors with the brush, his generous use of water in the brush, and his sweeping strokes on the paper encouraged me to be more confident in my painting.

“Make your first brushstroke a bold statement,” he said. I tried to follow that advice, and I think it helped.

Eric repeated his three basic goals for a painting: capture the eye at a distance, carry the eye throughout the picture plane, and bring the eye to the area of dominance. He gave us a number of tools to use to bring the eye to the area of dominance: contrast, line, placement, animation, warm colors, hard edges, big shapes, and detail.

Eric paints intuitively. That is, he feels his way through the painting, asking what the painting needs and responding to it. He’ll grab a color and try it on the painting, and if it feels right, he’ll go on. He doesn’t like to “go backward,” by scrubbing out a bad place or wiping out an awkward color. He prefers to move forward in the painting. 

If the painting has clear values and good interlocking shapes, then it will hold up well. You can use almost any color as long as you have good shapes and values.

He encouraged us to take risks. “If you’re not painting on the edge of your ability,” he said, “You’re not growing as an artist.”

On the first day, we painted the lighthouse at Cape Disappointment. (See my painting above) This is probably the most iconic subject in the Long Beach area, and I’ve painted it several times. This time, watching Eric, I was able to paint more boldly and decisively. I like the results, although my colors got a little dark in places. 

On the second day, we painted near the historic Oysterville school. Eric chose as his subject two big spruce trees with their cascading foliage. He added two figures walking on the road next to the trees.

I was pretty happy with my trees. I used a lot of vivid color in the trunks and managed to show the foliage adequately.

On the third day, we painted the lighthouse keeper’s house at North Head Lighthouse. Eric emphasized using lots of wet pigment to let the colors blend. He wet the back of the paper to keep it moist, and he used a spray bottle to help the colors run.

I felt pretty good about my attempt to paint this building. My washes ran and blended together, maybe a little too much. But that’s how you learn. I was successful in getting my figures to blend into the colors around them, so they don’t look pasted on. On this painting, I was able to keep working the painting while the washes were wet or semi-wet, and that was a first for me.

On the fourth day, I was tired. Eric painted a floral arrangement provided by his brother, Todd, a professional florist. I enjoyed painting the flowers, but I was too worn out from a week of painting to really focus.

I camped at Cape Disappointment State Park, like I’ve done in years past. I enjoy camping, but I have to admit it takes quite a bit more energy, and I was in my sleeping bag by 9:00 each night. But all in all, it was a great week of painting and learning.