My first attempt to learn to paint with watercolors goes back awhile to when I use to watch Tom Lynch on PBS TV. ( a brief bit of context, this was before the birth of YouTube in 2005 and the internet in general ) Tom did weekly half hour demonstration paintings and made it look so easy.  Which is one of the problems with watching most painters doing video demonstrations. They have been painting for years and have mastered skills which may not readily be apparent. Also, in general, many artists who try to teach watercolor painting think that they are doing you a favor by trying to simplify their lessons / demonstrations. They use the “just watch me and do it this way, it’s easy” approach. Of course it isn’t, and you quickly realize that. When you try to emulate them, you end up failing miserably. There is so much going on during a watercolor demonstration painting and most of it that is really important and critical to learning is out of sight off camera. So much happens in between the times when you see the brush touch the paper. More on this later.

Years went by, paint tubes dried up and brushes sat idle in a drawer. For my next attempt, ( which was still before YouTube existed ) I decided to take an actual watercolor painting class offered at a nearby recreation center for the arts. One of those one night a week for six weeks offerings taught by a local artist. I’m not saying that all of these types of classes are lame, but the chances are that even if the instructor is actually a skilled and talented artist, they almost always are not skilled teachers. They teach classes to supplement their income to help support their own art. The outcome usually goes something like this. You end up spending a chunk of money to attend the class and more money to purchase an arbitrary list of instructor recommended supplies and books. Then you go through six classes, usually each an hour and a half long once a week. The teacher mostly talks about themselves, design and composition theory, shows off some their prior paintings and then leaves you to trying to make a painting on your own while he / she wanders around and looks over your shoulder occasionally making vague suggestions. Of course they never teach you the how and why of this medium because that’s just “obvious” . Which of course it isn’t. My guess is that 90% + of all students that take these type of classes leave in frustration and quit watercolor for something else. My paintings always started by me drawing a picture of something (a cat or a flower etc) and then trying to color it with paint. The usual out come was first a thick blob of paint on to the paper. Then I tried to fix it by adding more water creating an uncontrolled puddle, followed by my paper horribly buckling. This was followed by many attempts to add other colors to the puddle to fix that. This all predictably became a classic mud colored mess and then the class ended. I would sulk out the door embarrassed at my stupidity and dread coming to the next week’s class.

OK, that’s it for a retrospective of my first two attempts. Next time I’ll wrap up by explaining the beginning of my third and current attempt and give you some insights as to how I got lucky and finally got on to a proper learning track. Don’t be surprised if you have been finding yourself nodding your head and thinking ” been there, done that “. This is an all too often repeated experience for many people. But, I believe that this time, I’m going to be successful and you are invited to follow along.