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Brushing Up On Their Skills

classes. CANDACE C. MUNDY/TAMPA TRIBUNE

Betsy Hartman (standing in middle), the instructor for a beginning watercolor painting class at the newly opened Carrollwood Cultural Center, works with students Lynn Fugiel (left) and Sharon Brown during the 2nd week of the 6th week of

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By ELIZABETH LEE BROWN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 5, 2008

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CARROLLWOOD - Painting with watercolors is about layers and creating the subtle shadows of color.

It's also about patience.

Watercolor artist Betsy Hartman shares those lessons while demonstrating the intricacies of the fine art in her beginner's watercolors class.

The six-week course teaches basic painting techniques and discusses the materials needed.

It is one of nine courses offered this semester at the new Carrollwood Cultural Center. Other beginner classes include ceramics, piano, ballroom dancing and computers. Tuition varies but is typically $120 for a six-week course.

The cultural center's next session begins May 5, with registration starting April 21.

In Hartman's two-hour class, students start with fundamentals. They learn what type of paper, brushes, pencils and paint to use.

Hartman walks around the studio giving one-on-one instruction to her five students on the techniques of watercolor painting.

Topics include the amount of paint to use, how to get the right balance of water and paint and how to visualize the angle of the sun to add depth and shadows to a piece.

At a recent class, students pulled out their homework assignments - a palette filled with multiple colored circles. To practice the complexity of shading, they added crescent moons a half-shade lighter than the circles.

After a quick lesson on tracing a sketch on the light table, it was on to their first watercolor assignment - painting a red flower.

To demonstrate the watercolor technique, Hartman took a brush and swirled crimson paint onto the base of a petal. She worked quickly, alternating from one petal to the next and dabbing the brush in a paper towel between strokes.

"See how things just happen and you may have not even planned it?" Hartman said. "This is how it just kind of happens. See that little white spot? That can be a little spot of sunlight."

Hartman said each petal has its own personality - each one with its own color, shading, and shadows.

She showed the importance of having a paper towel to soak up the excess water in between dips in paint.

She also stressed another crucial point: Don't fix a mistake until the paint is dry. If it's still wet, it will be a mess.

Hartman said watercolor artistry is about painting in stages. Artists have many paintings going on at once because they have to wait for a portion to dry before continuing.

For the flower, she suggested students alternate painting the petals, so there is less chance the colors will bleed.

"If it teaches you nothing else, watercolor teaches you patience," Hartman said.

Student Carolyn Antonini of Forest Hills said she has taken painting and watercolor courses before, but that, at 76, she has a lot to relearn.

"I'm enjoying. It's not like it needs to be perfect," she said.

Antonini carefully brushed the colored circles, creating darker and lighter shades. Painting, particularly watercolor, is a forgiving medium that has a meditative effect, she said.

"It's another comfort of self, another dimension of creating," she said. "I enjoy art. It's just wonderful for what it does for you."

Halfway through the class, Hartman noticed a common mistake. Beginning painters tend to be too frugal with their paint.

At $12 for a small tube - the price for a gallon of house paint - it's easy to get skittish, Antonini said. But stingy painters end up with puddles of water instead of pigment on their palettes, Hartman said.

"What you have to feel comfortable with is letting go of your paints and making decent puddles with your paint. Without that, you can't do much," she said.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

WHAT: Carrollwood Cultural

Center

ADDRESS: 4537 Lowell Road

WEB SITE: www.carrollwood center.org

CALL: (813) 269-1310

Reporter Elizabeth Lee Brown can be reached at (813) 865-1502 or ebrown@tampatrib.com.

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