WATERCOLOR PAINTING

Marilynne Bradley is Susie's watercolor teacher.  Bradley has introduced Susie to various techniques and most importantly tapped Susie's explorations with the medium.  An encouraging and brilliant artist, Bradley continues to excite Susie's growth.

Anyone who steps into a new ring can be very happy for a high quality coach. Susie's sister, Judy, is just that. Judy, an accomplished artist for her whole lifetime, knows how to coach her little sister. She's a master at asking just the right question to move Susie to see a piece with a keener eye. Nearly every time that Susie reaches a pausing point with a painting, she texts a copy to Judy for input. Subsequent conversations bring new light to the piece and always thoughtful support for helping Susie develop as an artist. 

Susie started this artistic journey, curious about the wonderful paintings her friends were doing under the tutelage of Catherine Von Hatten. Catherine, formerly an educator and leader, had retired, and she took up watercolor.  She was masterful in the medium and taught several friends to paint.  With the sudden and terribly sad loss of Catherine to cancer, several of her friends continued to paint and look for camaraderie under that creative umbrella. Then, another friend invited Susie to join an acrylic painting gathering at a local library.  From acrylics to watercolor, Susie was on her way to realizing this passion. 

Daily sketching, just playing with pencils, is a key element in learning to observe more strategically. Susie tries to sketch simple objects in front of her. When she gets too ambitious, she scales back to those simple sketching exercises, paying attention to value...that light against dark...those shadows...taking note where the light is coming from. 

Practicing...use up that paper!  Watercolor takes a lot of experimentation. Reading from helpful art books, listening and watching others paint.  All of the time spent practicing informs the artist of what happens when water and paint collide as the artist practices with different brushes and tools that scrape across the paper.  

Taking weekly classes with Marilynne Bradley has afforded Susie a chance to work quickly with watercolor.  It's sometimes scary, working so fast.  "Get loose!" That is often Marilynne's mantra, as Susie struggles to do that.  When Susie paints at home, she takes more time, lets the paint dry between layers.  Always that whisper is in her ear, "get loose, get loose."