This large sheet watercolor was painted by Stephen Quiller for the SWS meeting Wednesday night. There was standing room only to meet him and see his slides of paintings from all over the world but a lot of them were painted in his beloved Colorado. You find out very soon about his love of nature and painting the outdoors. When the snow is on the ground, then it's time for him to pick up his sketch pad and cross country ski. These works were painted flat so the students could view them in the overhead mirror but en plein air he paints vertically.
Above is a closeup of a small watercolor study of Stephen's done yesterday.One of my favorites. There is so much texture and interest with the splattering and negative painting.
Today we got into the use of acrylics and glazing. Above the first small study demo that Stephen did. Then it's our turn and I don't care to share my attempt. It's only a few steps back to your working area from the demo area and he makes it look super easy and you just know you can go back and do likewise. Well, forget that. No one paints landscapes like Stephen and I don't have the desire to paint landscapes but I wanted to study them with him. What a great opportunity with him in the area and I do breathe easier here than in his high mountain Colorado. He has made us all more color conscious and aware of landscapes many possibilities.
He began this lovely poppy study right before lunch by laying in all the orange shapes first and all I could see was candy corn and thinking when can we eat. Luscious acrylic painting. He has his own set of marks and distinctive brushwork and we practice in the air hoping to paint an aspen or poppy that looks even a little like his. 
This is a watercolor of mine from yesterday. Four days of class with a late night meeting is beginning to show and I wasn't very happy with today's results.A friend that follows my blog has asked if I'd post the 12 colors he uses for his travel palette and I will in a later post.
He's written 5 books, has his own line of watercolor and acrylics, color wheels, palettes, paper and instructional dvd's and he is a student of art history, of paints and their properties. The man knows a lot about landscape painting. He states that his 12 color palette can be taken anywhere and any color can be mixed from it and the theory of this placement goes back to the 1830's. A catalogue of his products can be ordered from his web site.
