Joe Fettingis Watercolor Workshop ~ Day 2

Nancy's work in progress at the Joseph Fettingis workshop. I see I need to adjust the horn shapes in the background near the spirit necklace and add more color to the face. The computer monitor can point out your mistakes all too well. This is a vignette but I think I ran my vest and sleeve off the page too far. I'm including Suzanne's painting as her approach was very original where the rest of the 19 students stayed with Joe's colors. I told Betty that I'd take her photo to go with her painting after we finished eating at Joe T's (my most favorite place in the whole world to eat) and we were so stuffed with refried beans, enchiladas and tortillas I completely forgot it.
"Now watch this. Here we go", Joe calls out on day 2 and I feel like we're just getting started and wish the workshop was a five day one instead of 3. His teaching methods are top notch in my book and you can see the links in my web site on how many workshops I've taken in the last few years so I can recognize a good teacher when I find one. Joe talked a little about cameras and photography of models, how to control the flow of pigments, and gave us short demos on the scarf, folds in the shirt, color and how to move it in your painting, how to use scrubbers, and backgrounds. He has a "funny little accent" and I'm sure he thinks the same about some of us...me! He said he was in Venezuela until the age of 14. I don't have an excuse for my "funny little accent".
About 2:30, we put away our "lady cowgirl" and we given our horse photo to begin placing on our watercolor paper and we got on our masking fluid so we're ready to begin painting a horse on Thursday. There is a lot of excitement in the workshop and he has made learning fun, fun, even if he is a little strict with his "No Talking" rules but we are definitely the beneficiary and I've handled this better than some of my "friends" had predicted.
Joe was the juror for the SWA show and our opening reception is Thursday evening at the Central Library in downtown Fort Worth. Tomorrow will be a rush day to paint and then get to the show by 6:00 p.m. We take down on Sunday so you have only a few days left to view the show.
I hear lots of rolling thunder and we're under all kinds of watches so I'm out of here until later in the week and maybe I'll have more artists to show with their work...maybe even a horse or two.

Betty's Painting
Betty is a member of Canvas by Canvas and our web mistress. She sent around an email tonight that will make you sorry you missed the workshop. I quote "He's really a wonderful instructor and spends a lot of time breaking things down into understandable chunks and letting us work on part of a painting so we can apply the information, before going on to the next step. I've learned a lot about the reasoning behind applying paint to paper in watercolor: how to control the moisture and assist the eye in moving throughout the painting -- even after all these years I've never had anyone explain things so clearly. And really, we are all very respectful of his request that we not talk amongst ourselves while he is teaching or while we are working, but he's always full of amusing anecdotes and the class is never boring. He is one of the most organized and disciplined artists I've ever met -- truly an amazing experience. Makes me want to get back to watercolor more often."


Suzanne's Red Hat Painting


Suzanne


Joe's Closeup of the background