At the Christopher Schinck Demo

Last week the El Cerrito Art Association hosted an excellent watercolor painting demonstration by Christopher Schinck. Mr. Schink has a unique way of painting with watercolor and a wonderful sense of humor. He both entertained and amazed the group with his bold use of color, thick paint applied opaquely using large china bristle brushes and extraordinary knowledge of art history, composition and painting technique. I alternately watched the demo and sketched the audience (above), enjoying both equally.

I jotted down a few of his comments:

“Don’t paint objects. Paint relationships” [of design elements, like light & dark].

“It’s better to quit early than to quit late.” (In other words, stop painting before you’ve overworked it!)

“Sarget said watercolor was ‘making the best of an emergency.'”

“When you first start painting you tend to strive for accuracy and people like it. The more you paint and explore as an artist, the less your family likes it. Push yourself so it’s still identifiable, but have fun!” (Encouraging us to abstract and simplify.)

Then a few nights later my watercolor group got together for dinner and sketching. Dinner was fabulous! Not so my sketches, but here they are anyway.

What’s funny about this sketch is that I’d drawn the box and then gotten really into the details of each little packet of candy. When I finished the first row I realized there were only three across and I still had room for one more. So I just made the box smaller and left the odd lines from the original ghost box. I added color at home to the top and bottom sketches.