Nicholas Simmons ~ Wednesday, June 11, 2008 ~ KoI Finished

Koi


Nick's Koi Painting

I made sure I got to class early today so I wouldn’t miss a beat for the morning workshop discussion and slide show that Nick had prepared for a Photoshop demonstration with his digital projector and laptop. It wasn’t about learning Photoshop but about choosing and combining photographs, designing and composition in paintings. It also helps him in choosing the size of the painting as he believes every painting has its perfect size. Nick takes lots of photographs and mentioned possibly taking 1000 shots on a recent New York trip, one of his favorite places for photography. One thing that was encouraging to the class was his declaration that he was not a computer or Photoshop whiz or guru but he has discovered a lot of his techniques by trial and error. Another reason he likes the projector is the ability to compare different compositions without printing out a lot of photo possibilities.

A feeding frenzy after lunch and it had nothing to do with the koi. A box had arrived with copies of Nick’s new DVD produced by Creative Catalyst and cash and checks were flashed and the box emptied fast. We gathered around the overhead mirror for Nick to demo the next steps in painting one of his famous Koi fish and to explain what we were to do next. The class was full and there was a waiting list and resulted with students being in adjoining room. One of the innovative ladies in the second room brought a baby monitor to set up by the demo mirror so they would be alerted for any updates. A high tech fix for a simple problem and I thought it a tip worth mentioning along with some jokes and questions about blackmail. I took a picture of some of Nick’s brushes all lined up ready for the war. He can wield a mean toothbrush along with a 4” house painter’s brush for some of his techniques. I had to ask for teacher’s help with my toothbrush technique as I was getting a fine splatter in all the wrong places and yes, there is a definite way he splatters. He uses the technique to shadow and model the koi and helps integrate into the background.

Nick finished his Koi, moistened it front and back and placed it under a weighted backing board to sit overnight waiting for the lucky new owner to pick up Thursday. I completed my Koi today and it is so interesting to walk around the class and see all these different fish in various painting stages. It really helps in learning the techniques when others are working on the same project.

Nick would not tell us what we’d be painting for Thursday but just said it will be a new painting with a different technique.

Nancy's Koi

Nicholas Simmons Workshop ~ Tuesday, June 10, 2008 ~ Koi Painting

Nicholas Simmons and Da Vinci liquid acrylics

Nick's Koi ~ A Beginning ~ Stop by later for the finished painting

We learned so much today and had so much fun trying out Nicholas Simmons’ “batik” technique of painting a Koi fish. He prefers working large, but to save time he painted a demo with a ½ sheet (15” x 22”) hot press paper. He drew a contour drawing of one Koi with plants with wide leaves in the background, did some splatter with mask and then the magic started with Nick painting with the Da Vinci fluid acrylics and boldly wielding a spray bottle, and mixing the colors on the paper and not on the palette. He welcomed crawl backs and blooms and made slight color changes. We had a great time walking around and viewing the other students’ work and seeing their colors as we all wanted to paint a Koi like Nick.

If you’d like to see the whole process with about 2 hours of instruction his DVD, Innovative Water Media, from Creative Catalyst is now available. I found my copy in the mailbox as I was leaving the house to go to an art opening on Friday and oh, how I wanted to stay home and watch it but felt fortunate I got to see it all the way through before the workshop began Monday. He gives a good discussion of his materials including his brushes and they run the gamut from a toothbrush to a 4” house painter’s brush. One innovative thing about this DVD is that Nick composed and performed his own original music.

I didn’t finish my painting today as I need to work on my Koi and I will post it later. Artist Showplace has an overhead mirror and a separate table for each of us upstairs in a quite area of the gallery with a microwave and refrigerator nearby and a large sink for cleanup. It’s just a great experience and the participants are so fortunate to be able to take a week off and get a chance to study with this 2007 National Watercolor Society top prize winner.

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