Imagine glass being shattered. The random shapes and patterns are totally unpredictable.
Now, take these haphazard glass pieces and marry them with watercolors, then add your own playful attitude.
This is experimental watercolors. Like music on paper, colors flow in delicate waves.
Join Big Island artist Patti Pease Johnson for the Experimental Watercolors workshop from noon-3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 17, at Volcano Art Center.
Each student will create three to five separate 8-by-8-inch watercolor paintings on cold press watercolor paper using previously broken glass as a catalyst to spark creativity.
Students also will be taught theories of good composition along with color theory and color wheel use.
Abstract qualities are the focus in this workshop using three to four paints right out of the tube with the glass. After the first drying and glass removal, each piece is brought to further expressiveness by using detailed watercolor techniques of washes, spatters, lifting, value gradations, dry brush and more.
“You can’t help but wonder what is going to happen after your first piece of glass is put on watercolor paper,” said Pease Johnson, when asked to describe the experience. “In painting, the more chances you take, the more you will stretch the limits of your understanding and, in turn, the more you will grow as an artist.”
Cost for the workshop is $50 or $45 for VAC members plus a $10 supply fee per person. Beginner and intermediate artists welcome.
For more information or to register, call Volcano Art Center at 967-8222 or visit www.volcanoartcenter.org.