Art in the Albemarle Area – Painting
by Talmage Dunn
Painting can be a solitary activity or a group activity, one way to get your paint muse going is to get together with a group of like-minded individuals. On Tuesdays, at the Currituck Senior Center, a group gets together with wonderful people that are interested in painting. We call ourselves “The wet paint Society.” This group meets, talks, and of course, paints and discusses our different techniques. When asked what got each of them into painting. The replies were as interesting as they were varied. They ranged from… “ I got into it as a form of therapy..,”… “I always wanted to try painting and there was a group here that offered me the chance..” to “I just wanted to see if I could because I always loved working with color ..” Whatever the reason … get out and try it.. I promise you will not regret making the attempt. This group is led by an awesome artist … Jackie Zagon. There is aleays supplies to help a budding artist get started in painting.In our area there is always a group you can join , many of our Senior Centers here in the Albemarle area offer some form of painting or crafting. You just have to get involved. There are also places to go and learn in each county. Check out Studio %11 Art & Soul in Elizabeth City, check out Wine and Sip painting activities, even the local museums sometimes have painting or coloring activities. If you want to start small try rock painting!! If you just want to try painting on your own you can find materials to start at almost every one of our local “box” stores. You can also get materials from the specialty art stores in our area or the surrounding counties. Even check out the internet for various lessons, even consider learning to airbrush, it is an amazing way to get started. Airbrush 101 on Youtube is excellent.
There are various types of painting media. In this issue I would like to explain a little about one of the easiest paint materials to start with, watercolors. Watercolors come in different forms. Cake, tubes, and powders. Most of the readers are familiar with the cake form of watercolors. These are the watercolors that you see in the children’s art section of many stores. There are various quality cake forms. Most that we encounter are not the highest quality cake form but are excellent starter sets to see if you would like to paint with. The higher quality cake-form watercolors have a better consistency. more pigments, and last much longer. There are watercolors that come in tubes, these also have different quality brands and consistencies. If you use these, I would suggest that you get a starter set. This set usually consists of student grade paints. One of the highest quality of watercolor paint forms is the powder form. You can mix this with water to get the translucency or opaqueness desired for the particular painting you are working with.
I have some watercolor post cards that are 4” x 6” in size. This is the perfect size to start your painting development. Its not too large to be overwhelming and not too small to be cumbersome. Get your paint set, your brushes, an absorbent towel, and two small cups of water. (always needed to have one cup of clean water).
Its now time to just let yourself go and put some paint on the watercolor canvas. You may have an idea of what you would like to paint, if so get started. If you have no idea… try this..
– Tape your 4” x 6” card to a larger piece of cardboard or firm material.
- Take your large brush (1 1/2”), wet it, then gently stroke across the watercolor canvas.
- Pick a color, wet your brush, dab it in that color, then dab it on your canvas. You will notice the color will spread out and diffuse over the canvas, allow this to happen, you can even tilt the canvas in different directions to allow the paint to move and be absorbed by the canvas.
- Then proceed to the next color using the same brush. You will see the colors blend and move across your canvas.
- Let this have some drying time before applying more paint, I enhance this time by using a simple hairdryer.
- Use your smaller brushes and let yourself go. Next month I will include my pics of this.
Feel free to contact me by e-mail bowhuntor@yahoo.com or by phone 252-267-5437. Talmage Dunn, Artist.
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