Leaves and Berries

How about a change from greens!  Last fall when the online class I was taking ended and I was ready to learn from some other watercolor instructors, an annual art trade show came around.  It's a "Learning and Product Expo" that is held at a convention center only a few miles away from home.  The Expo has been going on for over 20 years and I never checked it out.  But in 2011 I noticed some artists whose work I was getting to know on Facebook were teaching workshops at the Expo.  I signed up.  One class I was interested in was Negative Painting with Brenda Swenson.  Brenda is the expert at negative painting and does such gorgeous watercolors using the technique.  I had to find out how to go about it.  Unfortunately, most Expo classes are only 3 hours long which isn't really enough time.  So, with Brenda's workshop we only got into doing black and white versions.  She had many of her beautiful and colorful pieces posted on the walls for us to see.  With the start I got in the 3 hours I had to try a piece in color on my own.  I chose a photo for reference of leaves and berries from the Paint My Photo website.  Of course this negative painting technique is useful in other types of pieces - landscapes and still lifes.