One of the nice things about the art classes at St Louis Art Supply is that the class fee always includes the supplies you will use during the class. This not only makes it easier on the teacher, but I think it pushes you out of your comfort zone in trying out different products. Jess likes to use Micron pens on hot press paper, so for this class we were given 3 sizes of Micron pens (01, 03, and 08), a 6"x6" Speedball Fluid watercolor pad, a white Gelly Roll pen for highlights, a waterbrush, a pencil, and an eraser.
Jess started the class by giving us dabs of Van Gogh watercolor paint (cobalt blue, yellow lemon, and Quinacridone rose). She thinks stark white backgrounds are intimidating, so she encouraged us to colorize a few backgrounds. By my third sheet, I started playing around painting the flowers on the table. Jess also makes bouquets for the shop with flowers from her own garden.
For our next task, Jess demo'd the 3 different types of line textures that she uses: hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling. I tried out each of them with my 3 pen sizes, as well as made a color chart of the watercolor primaries. (Side comment - my camera is making these colors look much more vibrant than they actually appeared on my paper.)
Our final task was to draw one of the floral arrangements on the table and shade it with pen and ink. I chose the aloe plant for my drawing, but I found my pink and blue backgrounds distracting, so I just drew it on a fresh sheet of white paper. Jess helped me get started on the shading. She has an extremely light touch allowing her to slowly build up depth and detail in her drawings. I'm a bit heavier handed, but I really liked the technique - a very relaxing way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
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