Susan L Harrington

Years ago I received a class “for beginners” from hubs for my birthday. I sat with my pristine watercolor supplies and observed that the rest of the dozen or so painters had well-worn materials and chatted away about their most recent works. Bless her heart, the instructor knew my dear hubs had been sold a bill of goods. 😂 She promptly took me under her wing and suggested I “get to know my palette.” Though I did have a great time, and became acquainted with my palette, it was a while before I was brave enough to take another “beginners” class.

In 2012 artist, Derek Gundy taught a 3-hour introduction to watercolor evening class. I braved it. As I recall there were only 4 of us painting the same scene. But no wine! 😩🍷 With his guidance, I was thrilled with the process and the result. At one point he introduced the last step in composition: where is the viewer? And suggested a tree or sense of “place” to anchor the painting. I promptly told him I wasn’t ready to screw up the whole painting by trying to paint a tree or foreground and that I was quite happy with it. Derek wanted me to think about it and proceeded to stroll around the table making suggestions and providing instructive feedback to the rest of the participants. As he arrived back at my place he asked, “Well, what did you decide?” And I replied, “I decided the viewer is in a helicopter!”