Painting Class

This winter I took an advanced watercolor painting class at Old School Square which is an art school open to adults in the community.  Charles Passarelli was the instructor. We met for three hours one morning each week for eight weeks and completed four paintings.  Each picture was complex and detailed, and, successively, each one was more challenging than the last.
Starting with the English cottage, the instructor's emphasis was on color and technique.  He chose the subject, gave us a photo to reference, and a drawing to trace.  Chuck demonstrated for about half an hour then gave us time to paint during which he walked around and commented on our paintings, repeating this process for the duration of the class.  Not only is he an extremely talented artist, but he is also a gifted teacher.  He was both kind and generous with his comments and critiqued each one of the finished paintings in our 15-student class.  As if that wasn't enough, he also has a great sense of humor and cracked jokes constantly while painting. 
The second painting was a still life with a variety of textures: a stucco wall, a window in partial shadow, a rough-hewn wooden bench, and--most difficult of all--a pewter pot.  I learned so much doing this painting.

English Cottage

Still Life with Pewter Pot

Sail Boat





The third painting was a large sail boat which was back lit by the setting sun.  The boat and rigging were extremely detailed.  We even used a sail slope to put the lines sewn into the sails. I think this one is my favorite of the four because it required so much color mixing and technique to achieve the effect of the sunset behind the boat.

 The final painting was a portrait of the teacher's granddaughter, and of course, painting people is the ultimate challenge. I wanted to ask Chuck if he thought it was easier to paint someone you know well or a total stranger, but his demonstration lasted most of the class, and I did not get the chance.