Monday morning drawing class: Life drawing

"Artist Linda"

14" x 16" Vine Charcoal

"Linda ala Twenties"

12" x 16" Vine Charcoal

One of my fellow artists asked her friend Linda, an encaustic artist, to sit for our class. It's been a while since we've had a live model and we were a bit weary of our still life sessions. Linda was delighted to accept and used her fee to buy art materials. Each session was one half hour and we focused on a portrait rather than full-body view.

On the first piece, I used my traditional approach of noting the top and bottom of Linda's head on the paper and then measuring using the dowel stick to find the width to height and position her features. Pretty much in this view, the features followed the convention of the eyes being half way between the top of the head and the chin and the end of the nose half way between the eyes and the chin. I like working with vine charcoal as it's easy to smudge out and erase, and it works well to shade form. Bob said I did a good job on this one, and one of the store managers complimented me on this piece as he used the vending machine nearby.

Bob took time to do a demo for us on how he approaches a portrait, and then we had our second half hour session. Linda brought several hats and we chose this lovely thrift store piece from the twenties. This time Bob made us take the first five minutes and draw without doing any measuring. In that time I was able to draw the head and hat and start the features. Then we could check ourselves after that. Surprisingly, I was pretty accurate. I'm sure that Bob had us try this approach to show us that we were becoming more accurate through practice.

This session was especially enjoyable and we have promises from Linda that she will return another time. I would like to develop a couple paintings from these pieces.

Live clothed model session

"Jane with Attitude"

Graphite and watercolor

15 minute pose

Three friends who are very successful artists now share a large studio in Sunnyvale. Today they hosted a two hour session with a live model. Jane Ferguson, one of the three artists, is one of my favorite models. I've posted other pieces with Jane on this blog. Jane changes several times and we have a new challenge with each outfit. Don't you love the bright pink hat -- it was covered with sequins.

We began with 2 minute poses and worked up to 5, 10, and finally 15. I always feel a bit intimidated surrounded by so many excellent artists, but I figure I have to learn. Doing these quick gesture drawings really helps warm us up for longer poses. I used vine charcoal so I smudge out lines as necessary. You can see my proportions are off.

Gestural drawing for 5 minute pose

Charcoal

We moved to two 10 minute poses and I challenged myself to use the broad Copic pen in sepia. It made me be more sure and deliberate with my marks. You can see that I tend to shorten the lower half of the body during these quick pieces. I corrected.

"Jane Relaxed"

Copic Pen and Watercolor

10 minute pose

The final two poses were 15 minutes each. On the last one, Jane posed as herself, an artist at her easel. What I show below is two pieces done in the last 15 minute pose. First I did the complete body, then I moved on to doing a portrait of the upper body. I received kudos from a couple fellow artists on this final piece; they commented that it really captured Jane.

"Jane Paints"

Graphite

Part of 15 minute pose

"Jane the Artist"

Cretacolor graphite

Part of 15 minute pose

Myrna Wacknov participated in the session using her I-Pad2 and an app that simulates watercolor painting. Myrna is always so experimental and she's won many awards internationally. She is also a terrific instructor who travels the world teaching art. Hopefully she will post some of her sketches from today, so check back on the link to her blog in the next few days. There is a sample of a sketch she did last night on the blog.

SCVWS Drawing Workshop completed

Sketching exercise in sanguine Conte on white paper

Last night I completed coordination for a three-day workshop for Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society. My Monday drawing instructor, Robert K. Semans, was the guest artist. Bob is an impressive and successful artist. Drawing seems like it should be simple to learn, but we participants can tell you otherwise. I overheard someone say at the end of the workshop, "I thought I knew how to draw."

The room was set up with four still lifes that would give us practice in the various principles of drawing and gave us ample opportunities to practice measuring using a dowel stick to check our accuracy. We rotated through the four tables during the first two days. We sketched in charcoal and conte. My conte drawing of the basket was my most complete and interesting piece. It was challenging to get different values using the Sanguine, which cannot provide a full range of values.

On the final day, Jane Ferguson, a fine artist herself (take that link to check our her website) and professional model, sat for us until mid-afternoon. I've sketched and painted Jane before and I did one large painting of her that is one of my favorites.

Bob had us do warmups with 5 minute sketches. that really forces you to go for the gesture. Bob demoed how to do that with quick fluid lines.

5 minute sketch

Later we got to do some 25 minute sketches. You can see that Jane is great about changing outfits. The two she selected for the longer poses enabled us to see the underlying body structure.

Jane posed

We sketched for 25 minutes

Our instructor, Bob Semans, demos how to approach a longer pose


Jane's final pose for 25 minutes

My final sketch

Bob did a critique of our last sketch and used the critique as a jumping off point to review some important concepts about drawing from life.

"Les Trois Artistes" Reception on Saturday

"A Study in Black and White" (charcoal)
"Red Peppers and Pitcher" (pastel)
"Georgia O'Keefe's Mountain" (watercolor)
"Rain in the Fjords" (watercolor)

"The Coast" (watercolor)
"Memories of Ghost Ranch, NM" (watercolor)

"Matinee Memories" (watercolor)
"Villa Montalvo Gardens" (watercolor)

"Sunset over Tuscany" (acrylic)
"Dancing Poppies" (mixed media collage)

Some of the Matted Original Art for the Show

After coordinating the Frank Webb workshop, I immediately turned my attention to the ongoing "Les Trois Artistes" show on Santa Cruz Wharf. You can read about the show here. Because of a number of circumstances, we decided to have our reception on November 20. I've been organizing greeting cards, Bob cut mats, and I prepared the matted art in crystal bags for the canvas bin I will place there Saturday. I have a limited number of pieces hung, and I wanted additional recent art to display as many of my guests have attended previous shows. I selected a variety of pieces in different media. I even have one charcoal.

If you live in the area, please stop by our reception. You can make a day of it in Santa Cruz.

Vino Prima Wine Bar
Towards the far end of Santa Cruz Wharf
Saturday, November 20, 2 to 6

Monday Drawing Class - Portrait

"Rea"
12" x 14"
Pastel on colored paper

Today we returned to drawing a person. Rea, a lovely fellow classmate from the Netherlands, agreed to sit for us. Bob first demoed how he would go about painting her in pastel. We've seen him doing this before, but I always refine my knowledge. Bob first blocked in the shapes without taking any measurements. He carefully noted the tilt of her head and bisected the egg-shaped oval of the head with its midpoint. He drew lines perpendicular at a 90 degree angle to the bisecting line where he judged the eyebrows, eyes, nose, and mouth to be located. Then he began to measure using the dowel stick and refined the drawing. Pretty much Bob was spot on. He blocked in the darks using charcoal. Next he applied skin-tone pastels to the broad planes of the face. Then he began to refine the various planes, dividing light and shadow. He did not want to consume our time so he left his painting incomplete.

Now, it was our turn. I learn through note-taking, so I referred back to my notes and repeated his process. When he checked the drawings, he made one correction to where the leading edge of the nose was positioned and modified the mouth. I actually feel accomplished when Bob has to correct just one or two things! The piece was partially finished when the three-hour class ended. This evening, I completed the piece from memory, a real test of what I know about the planes of the face. Though I had brought my camera, I didn't get a photo before Rea moved. We will not return to this piece in the next class, so I am declaring it done enough to move on.

Small Pieces - Channeling Wayne Thiebaud?

"Summertime"
5" x 7""
Acrylic on Matboard

"It's the 40's"
5" x 7"
Acrylic on Matboard

Entryway display

I've always loved the shape element. Perhaps that is why I so enjoy the work of Matisse. For my art sales, such as Silicon Valley Open Studios, I like to offer some small, very modestly priced original work, especially in these challenging economic times. If you read my first post about the Wayne Thiebaud talk, you saw my experiment with acrylic on mat board. Bob always ends up with some mat board scraps, in spite of his great knack for cutting sheets economically. Yesterday afternoon, I got out my life drawings of Jane Ferguson that I did at a session to benefit Doctors without Borders last month. Here are two that I've completed so far. I have a stash of small mahogany frames, and these little pieces are very charming on my decorative shelves in the entry where I display multiple pieces of art.

The white line drawing was my first piece as that was my original design concept. I also love the line element. Then I found myself wondering about using color on the brown mat board. I drew each of these from my original sketches using vine charcoal. As I did the second piece, I liked the look of the charcoal line and recalled Jean Pederson's wonderful use of line with her very beautiful paintings of people. (Take the link and especially look at "Harlequin" that appeared on the cover of Artist Magazine. See below for information on a Jean Pederson workshop.) I used liquid black gesso to do the line work on "Summertime." All the while, I was recalling Wayne Thiebaud's statement that "Everything we paint has components of what was."

Jane Ferguson, my model, is one of my favorite artists. Yup, I am being repetitious. Jane scours second hand shops for interesting clothing for her modeling sessions, and she did about a half dozen costume changes. Jane happens to be one of the most accomplished artists in the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society of over 400 artists.

In 2012, I will be coordinating a Jean Pederson workshop for the society. We have many "big name" artists scheduled over the next few years, so be sure to check our schedules. If you are coming here from out of the area, we can recommend reasonable places to stay.

More Art Workouts

Pastel sketch
from charcoal study below

Charcoal study

Calero County Park Hike and Sketch
Los Cerritos Trail
Top - Looking West
Bottom - Looking East

Calero County Hike and Sketch
Los Cerritos Trail
Left - looking East
Right - Historic Bailey-Fellows House

I've been quiet in blogland the past week, but I've been doing my art exercises. The pastel was done from the charcoal value sketch in this morning's drawing class. This was one of the most helpful mornings I've experienced. Bob (Robert Semans) decided we needed to do some basics to refine our skills so we went through doing charcoal sketches first to get the form and cast shadows, the transition areas, and the value relationships. Then we did the pastel which went very quickly, probably done in an half hour, because all the work on value was completed first. I always find value and chroma can get confusing for me.

The Calero County Hike and Sketch was a delightful day spent with the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society plein air painters. Usually we are stationery, but about once a month, we take it on the trail. We'll hike with a limited amount of gear and stop along the trail to sketch and paint for about 20 minutes. The results are pleasing, though definitely sketches lacking the dark values and much detail.

The park is just lovely and is located about 5 miles from my home in the mountains that abut my neighborhood. The park allows hikers and equestrians and surrounds Calero reservoir, an important piece in our complex water supply. I got to see parts of the reservoir I'd never seen before from the "road" side, and also some lovely views in reverse. The Santa Cruz mountains continue upward behind the part between my home and the coast.

The wildflowers were magnificent, with those wonderful California Poppies beginning to bloom, and lots of tiny white, purple, and yellow wildflowers to set them off. The poppy sketch should also include the mountains, but I didn't get that far before we moved on.

I am working on two studio pieces as well. More to follow.

A Big Art Weekend

Some of my 2009 plein air art on display

Progressive Painting
(c) Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society

"Jamie 1"
Vine charcoal
10-minute sketch
1/9/201

The Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society held it's New Year's Party, the second I've attended. Bob joined me and he was such a help in the setup. We had a fabulous time mingling over appetizers, viewing plein air paintings and sketchbooks, enjoying a marvelous potluck, doing a painting exchange, and winning prizes in support of an art project for children. I was on the decorating committee and worked with fellow artist, Wendy, to put together centerpieces for the Asian New Year Themed party. It was the year of the tiger -- many paper lanterns, chinese takeout boxes, gold coins, chopsticks, fortune cookies, two stuffed tigers, and a wonderful handmade dragon went into celebrating the the Year of the Tiger. I enjoyed seeing many of my art friends, including Mike Bailey and his beautiful wife, and artists who went to France on Mike's 2007 Dordogne trip.

Please forgive the quality of these pictures -- I have my new camera out being repaired at the moment. I displayed several of my plein air paintings from our lovely outings throughout 2009 along with many by other artists. Those are artists's sketch books in the foreground. I participated in the progressive painting. There were two done and this one has some of my strokes buried among the layers. We all added watercolor to the gessoed boards. Then two very accomplished artists, Karen Wong, and Jane Ferguson, pulled them together. They did a fabulous job of turning these paintings into lovely works of art. The one above was completed by Jane. Two lucky winners took the progressive paintings home all matted and framed. I was very happy to receive a wonderful watercolor by our SCVWS Webmaster, Marion Podolski in the art exchange. One of the highlights of our raffle were three paintings donated by two nationally known artists, Jane Hofstedter and Myrna Wacknov. I sure was hoping to win one, but I was not that lucky.

Tomorrow I will be coordinating Myrna's demo for SCVWS. If you are in the area, these demos are free and held at Hoover Historic Theater in San Jose from 1:30 to 4:00. I am so excited about the upcoming workshop with Myrna. No doubt you will get to see some of what I do starting Friday.

Finally, I had to do my daily sketch, so I grabbed a photo of Bob's daughter, Jamie, from her wedding in April. She was crouched over her tiny grandmother on the dance floor. Grandma is a in her late 80s and just loves to dance. I almost captured the expression of fun on Jamie's face. I see the proportions of the body are off a bit -- oh well, that's how we improve our drawing.

Monday Drawing Class - the Full Figure

"Thinking"
Charcoal
14" x 17"

This charcoal sketch doesn't look like much, but I struggled mightily with it. Bob has had us concentrate on doing the full figure in the last two sessions with Gina. Usually I concentrate on the upper part of the body.We were shocked when after some very quick warmups, we had about 10 minutes to do some measurements. The lower body is much longer than we thought. Bob says that making the lower body smaller than it should be is a common error.

When I started this 20 minute pose, I got the length correct, but did not have the legs as far to the left as they should have been. I found this out myself by carefully remeasuring with my dowel stick. Bob says you have to suffer a little to become better at art.

Fall Squash in Drawing Class

"Fall Turban"

14" x 12"

Pastel

One of my fellow students bought this beauty while visiting in Pescadaro on the coast. I decided to use pastels and did not have the exact color so I layered yellow-green, black, reddish brown, and deep green. The highlights are a pale grey and the squash surface has some golden yellow. I was pleased that Bob liked what I did. He suggested I add a bit of reflected light into the shadowed underside of the squash, so I used the golden yellow from the table covering. I learn so much about seeing and rendering values from my drawing instructor, Bob Semans. The mastering of faithful rendering is a years-long process, but I can see the work paying off in my paintings.

While doing the bicycle/light rail trip to class, I always have some time to read. Today I studied John Vanderpool's, "The Human Figure, " first published in 1935. The book is on our reading list for the drawing class. John analyzed and recorded the human figure in mass and detail. There are numerous illustrations with each section that deals with a facial feature or body part. Bob always says "we draw what we know, not what we see." Increasing our knowledge of structure, value, light, and perspective will allow us to draw what we see. On the morning ride I studied the eye, learning about the planes, the orbicular muscle, and everything about the structure of the eye and how it is affected by reflected light. On the afternoon return trip, I studied and drew the mouth from different perspectives and made some notes. The mouth is a very complex structure. When I analyzed my charcoal and conte of Gina last week, I mentioned that the right eye and the mouth needed work. I will apply my study to improving the life drawing.

At our Thursday night art group, I transfered my drawing of Gina to watercolor paper and started a wet-in-wet painting using a method described by Jean Pederson in her book, "Expressive Portraits: Creative Methods for Painting Portraits." I'm about a third done. I will also be starting work on a commissioned piece this week and traveling to Asilomar for thee days at the "Carmel Paint Out" sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society for plein air painting on the coast. If you take the link to the society website, I am the person in front on the left in the featured picture of the plein air group at Uvas Falls, a beautiful area in the hills just 10 miles from my home. /p>

Monday Drawing Class - Gina with Hat

"Gina with Hat"

9 " x 12"

Charcoal and Conte

This is phase one of drawing Gina at art class this morning. We are to bring the piece back to continue working with shading next Monday. Bob moved her nose a smidge to the left, and I see now that the mouth and right eye need rework. When our instructor was at Atelier in Florence, they would work for three weeks on a piece, so surely I can refine this for another three hours! Gina wore the most wonderful green hat with feathers. With her lovely bone structure and natural ability to pose, she is a delight to draw. Another very satisfying class with friends.

Life Drawing in Monday Morning Drawing Class

"Gina"

Vine charcoal

Gina was back to model for us today at my Monday morning drawing class. She has such a lovely, natural beauty and wonderful bone structure. Gina does not model professionally, but she is a a great model. We did several 5-minute poses and then this 30-minute pose and a second 30-minute pose. This piece captured Gina's likeness the best.

I always so enjoy Bob's class. He is a perfectionist on accuracy and values. His critique included suggestions to work on the where the right eye meets the under plane of the bridge of the nose. The shift from the dark of the eye socket to the under plane should be more subtle and gradual. I could work on my edges where middle values meet the darkest values. The most defined edges are where the lightest light and darkest darks converge. I could lose some edges where dark meets middle value.

Several of us enjoyed a casual lunch together and Bob talked about his instructor Maynard Richart Stewart at San Jose State University who, at 85 years of age, remains Bob's mentor. "Dick" Stewart was mentioned in the most recent Artist Magazine on it's final page. Dick's father was also a well-known portrait artist, and Dick had a fine reputation as an artist and professor. We always enjoy talking with Bob about his route to becoming a professional artist, including his time in a Catholic seminary, diversion to art school, and two years in Florence studying under a great portrait instructor.

Bob's Boots in Monday Drawing Class

"Bob's Boots"
12" x 14"
Pastel and charcoal

The subject today doesn't look difficult, but the still life was a real challenge. The perspective on these well-worn leather boots kept us on our toes, pun intended. At one point, I asked Bob to look at my drawing, and he said that my measurements were okay, but some of the shapes likely needed work. He had me keep at it and was pleased with my final result. I spent most of the time drawing the subject and maybe 20 minutes adding pastels. The color is not real true on this snapshot, but I can't seem to make the adjustment on the computer.

We will have more opportunities to draw these boots as Bob promises to bring them back in the next month. Actually, I look forward to trying them again. We will have Labor Day off and then we expect to have a live model the following Monday if Gina is available.

Florals in Monday Drawing Class

"Late Summer Bouquet"
Charcoal

Bob Semans brought in a lovely bouquet, but it all became a bit overwhelming when I tried to dive in with pastels. The same was true for all of us. So Bob again demoed to establish the very large shapes (clusters of light flowers against the dark green foliage) and fill in the darks with charcoal, dragging some across the shapes. Then pull out the flowers with a kneaded eraser. Establish the light and shadow patterns, fix, and add pastels. Without much time, I completed part of the charcoal underpainting before running out of time. Still lifes and even live models are easier than a complex floral bouquet when doing a meticulous realistic rendering. All said and done, I liked the beginnings.

Home gallery and "Anything Goes" Art Reception

A watercolor, a pastel, and a charcoal and conte

Recent florals in watercolor

My primary gallery is my home. These paintings are hanging in the livingroom (hence the top of a harp is evident in one picture). Bob had cut mats for me recently and I was inspired by helping to hang the "Anything Goes" show in Palo Alto. I learned that unlike mediums can be hung harmoniously. So I framed some recent works and rearranged some art this morning.

The top photo includes on the left "Public Art Speaks," a watercolor, with "Pitcher and Peppers," a pastel below it. To the right is "Ancient Vase," a charcoal and conte. My drawing instructor, Robert Semans, will be happy to see these pieces framed. The bottom photo shows "Glamorous Peonies," watercolor on the left, and "Millbrook Farm Lilies," watercolor on the right. I am quite happy with the overall results.

Now that I am retired from the Corporate world and have expanded my art career, I am doing shows. "Anything Goes" by the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society, is my first entry in a society show. I sent out e-mail alerts to friends and collectors about the reception on Friday evening. A number of them attended, including some former co-workers that I miss very much.

The venue, the Elizabeth Norton Gallery in the Pacific Art League building in downtown Palo Alto, is really lovely. The gallery is on the second floor of a wonderful old Spanish building. Doors lead outside to a rooftop patio. Janice Faulstich personally cooked almost every item served at the reception, which included some lovely wines. What a treat. The evening was sunny and a perfect temperature. We had very large crowds, many from the Friday Night Artwalk held monthly in Palo Alto. I am aware that at least one large painting sold in the first ten minutes of the show, along with an unframed piece by the same artist, a very promising start.

Don Andrews Workshop

Day 1 pose, charcoal on newsprint - 10 minutes

Day 2 pose, charcoal on newsprint - 5 minutes

Day 1 pose with shadow and background on drawing paper

Brief post to keep you update on the Don Andrews workshop. Don is a wonderful teacher, very kind and encouraging. I like the way he breaks up the day. Everyday we have 2 models for the 16 or so artists who are divided into two groups with easels on tables around the model. The models switch between the two groups, and today we also had one different model than yesterday.

Don teaches in stages. Each day we do fast warmups on newsprint. I chose to use vine charcoal as I am very used to sketching with it and it erases easily. We indicate shadow shapes. Don has short demos morning and afternoon. First he focused on light and shadow, indicated on our rough sketches. Next he showed us how he adds the mid-tone - shadow in watercolor and background also in mid-tone value to set off the lights. Up to this point, which you see here, I thought I did pretty well. The piece on low quality paper looks like a 2-dimensional form. Then he showed us how to add color to the lights before he added the shadow forms. He wets his paper thoroughly and dives in with color. We are all amazed at how much paint and color there is, yet later they turn out to be very light, luminous forms. The page is sopping wet when we start. This is where it gets tougher for me. Looks so easy when Don does it, but I'm struggling with some new techniques.

Today Don showed us how he adds granulation, his term for mixing colors on the page. He gives an amazing demonstration of how one can easily change watercolor, AS LONG AS IT IS WET. He painted green. Don't like it, throw rose over it. Too cool, paint over with orange. He did this to one patch for a dozen colors with lovely results each time. Went too dark, wipe it off and start again. I struggled onward. Some parts look good. Don keeps telling us we are unlikely to produce masterpieces this week -- he is right. This afternoon Don showed us how he sometimes starts with a lovely grey and mixes warmer colors into it on the page. Beautiful results, at least for Don! Again, some of my painting came out well.

Though painting like this does not come easy for me, the class is really worthwhile. Check out Don's work here:
http://www.donandrews.net/Gallery.htm
I can't wait for tomorrow when I get to try again!

Life drawings on a Monday

"Gina"
Vine charcoal

I returned to drawing class this morning, and our model, Gina, returned with a wonderful shawl. The first three images are 15 to 20 minute poses, and the last image was an hour. I rather liked the ones I worked on the least the best.

Drawing from Life

"Gina"
Charcoal
(c) Mary Paquet

Today in drawing class we had a live model. Gina is a natural beauty with rich dark hair with a stunning white streak in the front. This charcoal is half done. There is much more shading needed.

We are off to New England and New York City to visit family and attend my college reunion. No posting for a bit.

Final post on Open Studios and some Drawing Exercises

Laura, artist and illustrator

Laura's work on display at Open Studios

"Garden Shoes"
Pastel

"Parking Lot Floral"
Pastel

When I posted pictures of our artists, I did not have one to share of Laura Schiller, our illustrator who created our mailers and flyers and does some wonderful computer-enhanced art. You can check out Laura's work on her blog:
http://schillerdesign.blogspot.com/

The next two pastels were done in my most recent two drawing classes. Neither are finished pieces, but I don't intend to do more work. Bob brought in his old athletic shoes and a bandana two weeks ago. My friend's reaction was amazement that anyone would bother to draw such a subject. Bob is always looking for ways to challenge us to apply our knowledge of perspective and creating form and volume. He is not concerned that we create a piece of art to display or sell. I actually found it challenging and fun to recreate those soiled and worn shoes and old bandana. The second one was a subject we came up with this morning. Bob had brought some potential still lifes, but someone wanted to understand how to draw florals, so Bob gave us a demo. Rea went out to the parking lot and picked some weeds and popped them into a vase on top of a gold drape. Voila! Instant florals.

A busy week

"Onion"
Charcoal and conte

The post-wedding week has been very busy with cleanup, gift transport, ballroom dancing, teaching cycling on a 50-miler, and preparing for Open Studios. Plus, I've had some computer problems, which Bob has worked on for me. Nice having my own system administrator.

Our drawing instructor, Bob Semans, returned from Washington, DC, with good news that he received the People's Choice award at the Portrait Society of America International Competition at their annual conference. We are very proud of him. He set us back to work on simpler shapes using some onions. I chose to do just one and use just charcoal and conte, rather than pastel, to focus on the values without the distraction of color. However, the color is very seductive and I will likely go back to pastels next week.

My house is in a upheaval with frames, matboard, and art pieces all over the livingroom and diningroom. Bob will begin cutting mats tomorrow and I will be doing the framing. I've been sending out invitations to Open Studios and stopping by local shops to put out flyers. I hope to get back to painting tomorrow. I've been reading a wonderful book I bought, Nita Leland's Confident Color. I have learned a lot from my first pass. Now I want to go back and do the exercises, especially making color wheels for various pallettes and experiment with color schemes. Mike Bailey has some paintings in this book; he is a real master of color. Mike brought these very paintings into our class when I took Watercolor Beyond the Obvious; so I easily spotted his work in the book. Incidentally, SCVWS will be offering Mike's WBTO class again in the fall if you care to enroll. http://www.scvws.org