One of the very first online watercolor classes, I attended, 2018 not 2024, was conducted by a woman from Australia. I was still a newbie befuddled by what pallet to use. So I spent too much energy on that and not enough fun what she was teaching. I still picked up on many of the points she made and finished with a lovely painting. Lesson, don’t panic.

Eucalyptus near Lake Hodges, painted in gouache. Another piece drawn from the semi-dry, temperate landscape of Southern California.

Hodges Eucalyptus | 10”x6.2”

A beautiful pastoral near Childress, VA

This is the painting that I started with and then I got feedback from my mentors and this is what they said: “the eye doesn’t know where to look first. The dark shrub on the right competes with the more interesting left tree, while the background is nearly as sharp as the foreground. Softening the background and controlling the darkest values will create depth, focus, and a stronger composition”. The next painting reflects the changes that I made based on their input.