Week 13 and last week was the first time in almost 3 months we had classes again in Libertyville and in my studio in McHenry. When it comes down to it I prefer a live in-person class over anything done online. The interaction between the students and teacher just is so much better in person then it can be online. A lot of it has to do with the students talking and interacting with each other and being able to see what other students do is such an important part of the classroom setting and teaching. When I talk with one student I am really talking to all of them which benefits the entire class. Very happy to be teaching a live workshop again at Dillman's in 2 weeks!
 

I still have some openings for my Dillman's workshop up in Wisconsin. Remember all supplies are included in this workshop. For info go here to https://www.dillmans.com/dcaf/2020/david-r-becker-watercolor.html

 

On Thursday's I do a free demo/paint-a-long on YouTube for any of you that can't make it to my weekly classes. I've decided to keep on doing them for free to pay back all those of you that have donated funds and bought my daily paintings. This week I am teaching you to paint a night city scene with wet streets and I will be teaching how to put gestured people into a painting along with how to practice gestured people.  See the image we will be painting below.  
A few of you are having problems with finding the image or missing the demo... you can find everything on my website at www.BeckerArt.net or www.DavidRBecker,com. I am looking into putting a link on my site that will help you download the image, that feature will be coming soon, as soon as I can figure it out. If you subscribe to my YouTube channel it will make it easier for you to find my videos on YouTube. Subscribe by clicking the YouTube button below.

 

Next class at the BeckerArt Gallery will be June 20th from 9am to 11:30am   Class is FULL

Email me at Beckerart@gmail.com  for any info you may need about my classes.

After my in-person class last Saturday I went out to plein-air paint because the weather was just amazing and it felt good to get back to my live class and I wanted to keep on painting that day.

Painting outdoors can be the best of times but for some, it tends to be the worst of times. 
For a watercolorist there really isn't that much you need to bring and that's a really good thing because you don't want to carry a load of art supplies to a location that isn't an exact location until you find it.

 

You can usually carry everything you need to paint a plein-air watercolor in a backpack (see below for an awesome kit for sale on Amazon). Try to keep the plein-air supplies to a minimum, it will really make a big difference when you are walking around trying to find a good place to set up and paint.

I know there are a lot of obstacles when it comes to painting outdoors, but the benefits of working plein-air are huge. You learn a great deal about colors and lighting and you really learn how to simplify the complex areas of an outdoor scene. You also learn a lot about composing a scene. This doesn't happen on your first visit to painting outdoors, it can take quite a few days of practicing outdoors but it is so well worth the effort.

Probably the biggest problem of painting outdoors is the light and the scene changing the longer you are there painting. In the scene I painted below the scene would change constantly. The secret is to figure out what you want to paint and then take a photo of the scene with your digital camera. When things change you can refer back to the original scene you started with.