SPRING THAW

Paintings in Watercolor, Gouache and Pastel

By JANICE WITTMER

Stillness

Emerging

Melting

Growth

Life

 

 WORKSHOP CHALLENGE

By Terry Heinzmann

In September of last year, the Merrimack River Painters struck out for Ogunquit, Maine, to paint by the sea. We had perfect weather for the three-day workshop and made the most of being outside.

Dustan, our intrepid and very creative coach, set the parameters of the workshop. They were: paint what you feel when you look at the ocean. Don’t paint what you see, paint what you feel. Paint the emotions you have as you watch the waves. Paint how you feel as you look at the sea. Paint the colors and shapes of your feelings. And do it quickly, spontaneously. Don’t think, just paint.

We, all of us, were completely challenged by this assignment, but we charged ahead and did our best. It was hard, to say the least. So used to painting what we see in the scene before us, painting some abstract notion, feeling, emotion, was really hard.

And if that wasn’t challenging enough, when we left the seaside and returned to the comfortable and charming home, belonging to one in our group, Dustan’s instructions were to rip up the paintings we had just done and assemble the pieces into a new painting. Yikes!

Well it took a bit of time to get into the rhythm of this project, but we dug in and went beyond the thinking realm and into some other place. Working this way was very freeing, exciting and challenging, all at the same time.

The pieces scattered throughout, represent my best efforts during this workshop. None of them have titles (what would I say?!)

I hope you enjoy them. Thanks for checking them out!