My two tree paintings are bottom right. The rest are Eris Newson's works. Photo / Judith Lacy
My two tree paintings are bottom right. The rest are Eris Newson's works. Photo / Judith Lacy
OPINION
You will read it only here. Last Friday in Friendly Feilding, a new colour was created. Its creator christened it purple unprose and it can be viewed in a painting hung on the walls of Feilding Art Centre.
No one can replicate purple unprose because it consists of notonly purple watercolour paint, but my dead skin, body odour, moisturiser and whatever else was on my left arm on Friday.
Forget BYO or BYOD. Feilding and District Art Society is running make-your-own sessions three times a week during March.
The table is groaning with art supplies. There are watercolours, pastels, acrylics, ink pens and retarder, which slows the drying process. There are frames, canvases and card. Access to all this is just $5.
Some of the art supplies available to Make Your Own participants. Photo / Judith Lacy
In the guiding chair last Friday was long-time artist Eris Newson. She’s painting trees on card using watercolours and encourages me to give it a go.
“Start with a puddle,” Eris says. I’m loving this already. Then choose three similar colours starting lighter and going darker for your autumnal tree. I apply light-blue watercolour paint, then dark blue, then purple.
Suddenly, my burgeoning tree is a blob of purple. Eris suggests dribbling water on it. I have fun dribbling the paint around the blob and down the edge of the card. Eris points out it looks like something from The Lorax. It does and splattering paint on the card is diverting until a blob ends up on my arm.
Most people would have quietly grabbed a cloth and wiped the paint off or headed to the bathroom. But as readers of this column will know, I’m not most people.
I let Eris and the other artists know, then proceed to use the paint for my next attempt at a tree. It started to look like something Mother Nature created but adding the branches and trunk was way beyond my skill level. I was pleased with my thriftiness, though, especially because Eris used to be the co-ordinator of the Arts Recycling Centre.
I put no thought into the all-important artist signature and struggle to write JSL in watercolour. I notice later one of my signatures is covered by the frame.
As I arrange paint, brushes, my attempts and Eris’ works for a photo, I manage to send a brush onto my Lorax painting. Oops. I turn the blob into Lorax.
At the start, Eris said she would do a tree painting with me to help me achieve something. I had fellow MYO participants Claire and Sue laughing with my quip I would feel I had achieved something if I didn’t get paint on my clothes. Little did I know!
Chatting with people you have just met is always easier when you are doing something other than sipping tea. Claire and Sue are great company and I keep sneaking glances as their works take shape.
Eris says having to bring your own supplies can be a barrier to participation and MYO takes away the scariness. I agree.
She also says watercolours are tricky as almost every colour behaves in its own way.
Artistsnetwork confirms this, saying watercolour is a hard medium to master, largely because it can be unforgiving and unpredictable. Mistakes are difficult to correct, and its fluid nature makes it hard to control.
I had afternoon tea with Palmerston North artist Darcelle Nesser on Saturday and shared my exploits. Darcelle says you have to be confident every stroke of watercolour you make is the right one as it is easy to use too much pigment.
