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Beginning/Intermediate Watercolor Painting with Ron Pratt (Winter 2023)

Beginning/Intermediate Watercolor Painting
Winter 2023
Ronald Pratt

Gateway Center, Painting Studio 1

Winter is the season I get my most successful painting done. The weather is cold and rainy, the daylight is short and there are few outside distractions. As long as I have a warm, well-lit studio I can turn on some music and focus on being creative. My choice for creativity is watercolor painting.

If you are the type that looks for creative activity in the winter months the Rossmoor Art Association is offering a watercolor painting class at the Activity Center on Thursday Mornings designed for you. Why not come and join other creative people in a fun and relaxing atmosphere and see what your creative muse has been waiting to unleash. This class focuses on teaching people the fundamentals of watercolor painting and encourages everyone to explore their own creativity. Subject matter will include a winter scene, a still life, a coastal scene as well as some abstract art.

This watercolor painting class will be at the Rossmoor Activities Center, Painting Studio 1 on Thursday Mornings from 9 am to 11:30 am. This 10 week class will run from Jan 12th to Mar 16th at a cost of $135. For Non-Rossmoor Residents the class fee is $155. Priority will be given to Rossmoor Residents. Suggested materials will be discussed at the first class.

RAA is now registering classes online only. Go to the Rossmoor Art Association website and click on Classes. Please use the website for registering. If you are having trouble registering, call or go to the Computer Club of Rossmoor for help in the Gateway Complex. Or you may call Marcy Wheeler at 925 787-9159.

The class maximum is 20 students due to space limitations so get your registration in to reserve your seat in the class.

To see Ronald’s Watercolors go to www.ronaldpratt.com. Please direct questions to Ronald at ronpratt14@gmail.com or call him at (510) 366-7740. Further information on all RAA activities can be found at www.rossmoorart.com

There may be short disruptions of classes in the next few months at Rossmoor due to the remodel of the studios. We hope to be able to make up for any cancelled class days and will try our best to keep you informed.

Ronald Pratt, Instructor

I’ve learned over the years that people aren’t so much interested in an artist’s technical skills as they are interested in what an artist has to say. They want to know how an artist sees things, their particular slant on life, their perspective, their vision. They want to know what an artist focuses on when looking at a subject. What is it an artist sees that is different than what the average person sees? What is that makes an artist different? As a watercolor painting instructor it is important for me to convey this fact to my students. I want them to know the first step in becoming an artist is to master the technical skills of watercolor painting. How do you mix your colors, handle the brushes, apply the paint to the paper, control washes, apply detail over the washes, etc. But I encourage them to not stop there. Once they have a semblance of control of these skills, it is time to start focusing on what they want to say as an artist. This is the important part! In this age of the rapid onslaught of technological developments, a simple phone app can turn your photograph into a drawing or painting. You can even select what medium in which you want your photograph to appear. Oil Painting? Pencil Drawing? Watercolor Painting? Impressionistic? Realistic? These are all available with the push of a button. The mere copying of a subject can now be done with your I-phone as well if not better than the artist. But artists can interpret things in their own unique way. They can create a stronger design, they can edit, deleting and adding to enhance their message, they can emphasize or de-emphasize areas in the composition. They can show their own perspective on things. They can show their own unique view. This takes the art of painting beyond the act of copying. So the main question I ask my students is “what are you trying to say?” I encourage them to ask this question of themselves before they start a painting and to keep asking this question throughout the painting process. In the end this is what separates one artist from another and what separates artists from copying machines. What is it that you have to say!!!