One of my main objectives in teaching watercolor is to dispel the belief that watercolor is an unforgiving medium. There is of course an element of truth in this thought when you compare it to acrylics in which mistakes can easily be painted out. I am constantly responding to requests for help from my students who think they have ruined their work or made a mistake in their painting that can't be overcome.
It gives me great pleasure to demonstrate how they might lift off their last brushstrokes removing an unwanted color with a different brush and clean water, add a subtle wash in a suggested color to tone down the negative space that might have become too dominant, or alter a composition slightly to cope with a mishap. All three instances occurred in my recent class "Abstracting from Nature - Bird Paintings". Images from this class will appear in a later blog.
When I was teaching high school my students teased me occasionally when I frequently repeated certain phrases in class. Saying their goodbyes, one senior class created and painted a huge card incorporating many of these catch phrases. Now in my adult watercolor classes new catch phrases are emerging, and when I hear my students repeat them, I realise I am hopefully achieving my goal. At the first introductory class I remind all students not to get stressed over a painting with which they might be struggling, saying, "Remember, it's just a piece of paper". Now I hear this coming back to me, "I think this painting has become 'just a piece of paper'." Most often the piece of paper can be rescued.
This week I found myself saying, "Don't worry, a mistake is just an opportunity to learn something new". It was immediately picked up by the group and I have a feeling I will hear it repeated in future classes.
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