Ready for my February Class

Woodpecker in a birch tree.

I teach watercolour classes with the Seniors Friendship Club — and honestly, it’s the perfect nudge I need to keep painting. I keep telling myself I’ll paint tomorrow but then tomorrow comes and I tell myself I will do it tomorrow. It’s kinda like groundhog day. Having a class to teach really motivates me to get ‘er done.

For this upcoming lesson I painted a birch tree using a cut up credit card as my palette knife. I limited myself to French Ultramarine, Indigo and Burnt Umber (note, no black). I get these colours to create magic when I add water with a wet paintbrush or a spritz from a spray bottle. Each tree is always so different. In this painting I also got some great backruns/cauliflowers when I tried to “correct” some parts.

The woodpecker came next. This is the star of the show so I had to take time… and a pointy paintbrush. The sky came last. While the sky was still damp, I sprinkled salt for texture (and a hint of background snow?). Splatters of white acrylic when all was dry for snow, and voila — this month’s painting lesson: birch, bird, sky, and a little bit of happy chaos.