Hello 

I'm back home from Dillman's and I have to say that it was another incredible year at Dillman's.
All 25 student artists were amazing and I do believe that everyone learned how to Float-Their-Pigment.
Next year I will be teaching at Dillman's twice, First in June and then again in September.

Next place I teach is in Vermont for Holbein. These classes are a little different, in that you don't have to bring art supplies with. Holbein and I supply you with everything you need for these classes. You pay for a 3 hour class and you can mix and match teachers, mediums, and times. I usually take a class myself from one of the other great instructors.
for information on the classes go to VERMONT ART EVENT
If you can't make Vermont for these types of classes, I will be in Santa Fe, NM for the Artisan Materials Expo Sept.29th - Oct. 1st at these classes you also don't have to bring supply's.

This week I finally saw my sign-up page on Cheap Joes site for my class on Oct. 9th thru the 13th of 2017
You can already sign up for that workshop at Cheap Joes.  I hear so many good things about that workshop space, I can't wait to teach there.

Hope you're having a great summer!

David

Yes to CLASS this Thursday, July 7th at the Civic Center in Libertyville.
Yes to CLASS this coming Saturday, July 9th at The Studio in McHenry.

I will NOT be teaching at the Civic Center in Libertyville July 21st, and 28th

However, Susan Macfarlan will be substituting for my classes on July 21st and 28th

No classes in McHenry at The Studio July 23rd and 30th

Sometimes you can work incredibly hard on a watercolor painting but sometimes it just doesn't seem to work out the way you had planned. This happens to everyone from beginners to masters.

For example, the painting below was a demonstration/class paint-a-long and when I finished it just didn't hold together and it had a few problems that just bugged me enough to scrub it all off and start over.
I know many teachers say that you can't erase watercolor and start over, in part they are right, but you can get rid of the pigment on the top layer of the paper and rework a wash over a stained piece of paper.
However, you need to know how the paper you are using will stand up to scrubbing. Some papers are soft and you will need to be very careful in scrubbing off the pigment. The paper I use is Arches and it is a very tough paper. You can scrub it but you still need to watch out how hard and how long you scrub it.

I recently found this painting in a pile of works that I label not finished or need to be scrubbed. I have a strong feeling that many artists have paintings that go under this label.

The biggest problem with this painting was the over-working of many areas, along with the darks being too heavy and thick. The color pattern was all over the place and the hard and soft edges weren't painted correctly.

I took the painting, placed it in a sink, let the water run over the painting while I took a stiff bristle oil painting brush and started brushing the top layer of pigment off the paper. In step 2 of the images below you can see how much of the pigment I was able to remove. I didn't scrub real hard, I instead scrubbed lightly and let the pigment run down off the paper and into the drain.

I then started painting like it was a new painting and tried to get fresh washes and soft edges while working more wet-into-wet and floating my pigment to get each wash looking fresh.

Step 1. I decided this painting was overworked, darks are to thick and heavy, and the color pattern is all over the place. 

Step 2. I placed the painting in a sink and scrubbed it lightly with a stiff bristle brush and took off as much pigment as possible. A lot of the pigment stays in the paper but that is okay since I will be floating pigment over the stain in the paper.

Step 3. I repaint the entire painting from the beginning, pretending like I am starting from scratch. I make sure this time to start keep the washes fresh and work with a color scheme of greens and red earth tones.

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