Pam C. enthusiastically led the Zoom meeting. We had 45 members in attendance! She introduced several of our new members. They had interesting stories to tell about their background in painting. Welcome to our new members!

She also reminded members of our next meeting, November 5, and our demo artist will be Mindy Lighthipe. This will be in person at the Seminole Public Library starting at 1:30 pm.

We will be calling on our members to volunteer for our Holiday Party on Dec. 3, 1:30. We will have a sign-up sheet for all of the positions to help with sign in, raffle, mini paintings, in house show, food, and other positions. We always have a great turnout and lots of fun!!!

Thouraya Z. announced our next Plein Air event will be Wednesday, Oct. 18, at Cherie Down Park, Cape Canaveral, from 9 am – 2 pm. Check our calendar for info.

We are getting some entries to our 25th Anniversary Soaring show but need many more! You can enter the same painting in the non-juried Soaring show as well as the members show in April. (Make sure to check with our prospectus.) Deadline for submittion is Oct. 15 so enter soon.

The watercolor demonstration, by Ontario artist Shelley Prior was a beautiful swan. We used color blending on the paper. 

Colors: Raw Sienna, Rose D’or, Cerulean, Cobalt and Neutral Tint.

Paper: Arches 140# cold press, 11” x 15” pre-stretched paper. Using a synthetic/squirrel hair blended brush.

Starting with painting in the background, we painted a smooth wash on dry paper starting at the top and moving the bead of paint down the paper. The amount of paint is key. To dry paint she uses a Ranger Heat It craft tool.

Then we worked on painting in some fine feather details, after establishing the general form of the bird with a clear water wash from the head, down the neck to the wing. The thinned down whisper of raw sienna on the swan’s neck really gave the impression of warm sunlight. The beak is painted in a mix of Rose D’or and raw sienna. Paint in the dark area above the beak and around the eye. Continue to build up the neck, cheek and face of the swan with light colors that overlap.

While working on the swan neck with the diluted raw sienna, to get warmth and texture in the feathers, she started talking about warm golds and cool blue colors. Consider the warms and cools in your paintings.

Also add the golden tone to the reflection in the surface of the water. Then you’ll need to paint one more layer of blue water to make the background darker. Make sure the colors are bone dry to avoid activating the colors underneath the new glaze. Make sure you use the right value and you can also add a bit of green or raw sienna.

Shelley has many wonderful YouTube videos posted on her channel. One of them explains color, value and temperature in watercolor.

Please visit Shelley’s website for a list of her materials and where to find them. 

www.shelleyprior.com

Thank you Shelley for a great demonstration!

Beautiful swan paintings done by our members!!!