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Intermediate/Advanced Watercolor Painting with Ronald Pratt __Thurs 12:30-3__7/13 to 9/14__Studio 1

Intermediate/Advanced Watercolor Painting with Ronald Pratt Summer 2023

Rossmoor Activities Center, Painting Studio 1

The summer time is always my favorite time to paint. Long, warm days provide plenty of daylight hours to work in my studio between hikes in the foothills, working in the garden and excursions to the coast. These activities always awaken my artistic muse and inspire me to paint. Creativity just seems to flow in abundance during the summer months.

If you are the type of person who feels the excitement and joy of creating in the warm months of summer, the Rossmoor Art Association is offering a class on Thursday Afternoons designed for you. This class focuses on teaching people the fundamentals of design and composition in watercolor painting and encourages people to explore their own creativity. This is a fun class that encourages the freedom of expression while developing your design skills in a fun and relaxing environment. Subject matter will be at the discretion of the students based on class themes.

This watercolor painting class will be held at the Rossmoor Activities Center, Painting Studio 1 on Thursday Afternoons from 12:30pm to 3:00pm. This 10 week class will run from July 13th to Sept 14th at a cost of $135. For Non-Rossmoor Residents the class fee is $155. Priority will be given to Rossmoor Residents. Brings your art supplies and a subject you wish to paint to the first class.

To register go to the Rossmoor Art Association Website and click on classes on the header bar. Scroll down until you come to Intermediate/Advanced Watercolor Painting with Ron Pratt and enroll. Remember this class is for those that are self- motivated with some background in the medium. 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.

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!!!