Enjoying a Kathleen Conover Workshop

Kathleen Conover Demonstration ©Mary Montague Sikes

Every year, I enjoy taking one artist workshop. Somehow, this year I went a little crazy and took three. Last week, we traveled to Boone, North Carolina and Cheap Joe's magnificent workshop facility for Kathleen Conover's outstanding class.

Because I don't usually like working on Arches watercolor paper which headed the supply list, I doubted I would get very much from this workshop. However, because Mary Ann Beckwick often spoke of Kathleen during her classes and because it was at Cheap Joe's, I wanted to take the workshop.

I was not disappointed. "Chaos to Order" was one of the best workshops I have ever taken. Kathleen is thorough and provides a detailed outline for her instruction at the very beginning.

The first day we made 12 starts, creating "chaos" by "playing" with texture, repetition, variety, and much more as we worked with her patented "gesso juice". By 5 p.m., I was exhausted and ready for dinner. We had the beginning of paintings, using plastic wrap, wax paper, stencils, stamps, sponges, and much more.

The week continued at the same fast pace. I didn't create any masterpieces, but I learned a lot about composition and using design. Of course, I already knew a great deal, but sometimes reinforcement is something everyone needs. The small works (1/4 watercolor sheet) can be planning art for larger paintings or they can be finished pieces in themselves.

It was inspiring to be in the midst of a classroom full of dedicated artists. We each had two tables on which to work. We all did value studies and spent time editing our work. I loved being with them and with Kathleen for the week. Now I need to read over and study the class outline once more and use it to make order out of the original "chaos" pieces I didn't complete in class.

In the midst of chaos.

There's Something About Being with "Creatives"

Mary Ann Beckwith talks about art ©Mary Montague Sikes

I just returned from a week-long visit to Boone NC where I spent five days with nine other "creatives" in Mary Ann Beckwith's experimental painting class. Since I first met Mary Ann in 2005, I have loved her. The atmosphere around her overflows with excitement and positive energy. I listened to her and watched her painting demos, and I just wanted to paint, paint, paint. Sadly, Beckwith plans to retire from teaching workshops and concentrate on her own work. This was her next to last workshop. The last one will be in October 2017 in Austin TX.

Being with other "creatives" in this class was special. I didn't feel the jealousy or competition that sometimes develops in art workshop classes. Instead, there was high energy focus that led me to new ideas and thoughts about making and finishing art. Much of Mary Ann's direction is toward developing design in paintings.

I remembered my early painting classes with Thomas Thorne at the College of William and Mary. He talked about design in artwork then, but it didn't make the impression on me that it should have. I was too enthralled by the intense color of my newly-discovered tubes of acrylic paint to care about anything else. I wanted to be a colorist. I had started out with oil paints that dulled with my overuse of turpentine. I didn't like the smell or the slow drying of the oil materials. Acrylics cleaned with soap and water. I loved them.

Now Mary Ann has taught me to like watercolor paints, especially those manufactured by Robert Doak in his studio in Brooklyn NY. I first painted with those intense watercolors 11 years ago and have been excited by them every since. Because both watercolors and acrylics are water media, I can mix them.

I hated to come home and leave the wonderful intense atmosphere of Mary Ann's workshop at Cheap Joe's in Boone. But I am inspired and thankful for the opportunity to have been with other "creatives". There is just something about them...

Workshop Class at Cheap Joe's ©Mary Montague Sikes