From watercolor to acrylics!

"Swamp Jewels V" (acrylic) by Helen K. Beacham

I just finished teaching a watercolor workshop this week, where we learned to paint orchids in a beautiful, loose fashion.  This coming Mon-Tues-Wed, I'm teaching an acrylics class where our focus will be to paint a successful painting with fresh color, with as few strokes as possible (because sometimes the simpler, the better!).  My students excite me when their eyes light up during their own, personal aha moments!

Classes for Everyone!

Take a peek...then take your pick!  Of classes, that is.
Click on: BEACHAM LESSONS & WORKSHOPS

I love to take classes in the fall, don't you?

I'm offering watercolor and acrylics classes that start in November...with a schedule all the way through April 2012.  Check out details on my website's link shown above!  Come to Charleston and take a class with me.

Take a 3-Day Workshop with me!

"Resilience" (watercolor by Helen K. Beacham)

Let's paint in a unique way, on a unique watercolor surface - Translucent Yupo!  See how I created the artwork in my newest series entitled "The Essence of Vapor".  I'll demonstrate my technique every day, for 3 days.  For workshop details, please visit my website (www.helenKbeacham.com) and click on LESSONS.  The location of our workshop is right across the street from the beach on the Isle of Palms, just outside Charleston, SC.  Stroll on the beach to get inspiration, then come to class ready to create, create, create!  This workshop is appropriate for beginners, all the way up to advanced painters.

Update on class painting

Initial wash (steps 1 & 2 below) and then the result of the first wash (or sometimes called a "glaze").  I usually always start this way and progress to darker glazes and more detail.  You can't focus just on one section of the painting...you've got to move around and cover the whole page before you know what to do next. 

This is actually a painting I've painted before (about 3-4 yrs ago?) and I'm forcing myself not to look at pictures of the first one.  Normally, if I re-do a scene, I'll want to make it look entirely differently than the first one, but because this is for a class, I want to give the students the experience of learning solid techniques that they can incorporate into their own memory banks...subsequent steps will be reflected in future blog updates.

Watercolor class tonight

Time for our new set of watercolor classes to start tonight!  We're going to focus on subjects such as this photo of a Charleston garden.  We don't want the background to fight the ironwork up close, so we're going to paint it much looser and allow the iron to play the leading role.  I'll post updates on our progress soon.

Acrylics workshop is over!

 

Well, our long-awaited acrylics/mixed media workshop has come and gone!  My students learned a new technique and some painted on large canvases for the very first time (using scary big brushes, no less!).  It was a freeing-up of the spirit and a realization that there is life outside of our proverbial comfort zone!  I arrived home this afternoon and already miss my old friends and the new ones I've made this week.  See you next time around!

Special 1-day Watercolor Class - April 1

Last night I decided to offer a special 1-day watercolor class (Thurs., April 1 from 6:30-8:30pm) in my Summerville studio. I have several people that are disappointed because my March classes are already full. Wish I could commit to another full 4 weeks for a 2nd class, but my calendar already is filled with pink this's and blue that's that already have to be fulfilled. This April 1 class is for those of you that have been painting in watercolor for a while and want to either improve your own style, or learn how to think about painting in a more loose, "painterly" style.

"Creative Avenues"

So sad. Today's the last day for our 4-wk Watercolor class entitled "Creative Avenues". I taught my students how to take our paintings from the "technically correct" stage, to the point where we get a 2nd and 3rd look from the judge because something touched his or her heart. That's a big breakthrough in how we approach our art.