Watercolor Demonstration in the Art Walk Nashua

Copyright © 2005 Yong Chen

In the recent Art Walk Nashua on Saturday, September 17, Yong Chen was invited to perform a watercolor demonstration in the Nashua Public Library. In his short watercolor demonstration, Yong explained the basics of watercolor painting elements: paper, color pigments, water, and the use of tools.

Through his demonstration, Yong use step by step methods, from how he will start and prepare a painting. When he used a pencil to do a rough sketch on the watercolor paper, he explained that pencil sketching is only necessary when you are not totally comfortable without it, then he use a pencil to do a very simple sketch to outline the big positions of the elements which will be included in the painting.

Then he started explaining the basic concept of water and color pigments and how they work together when we use different amount of water (both on the paper and in the brush), and when we should use more or less water. Yong introduced to his audience the terms of the watercolor wet-to-wet, wet-to-dry and dry-to-web, and these are the watercolor painting methods of using different amount of water in relation to the amount of color pigments.

Yong started from the background. He first used a big brush to apply lots of water to web the entire sheet of watercolor paper, then he mixed the blue and brown color to make a cold-gray color, then he quickly paint the mixture to the background area.

As the continuous of the first wash, he added a big of yellow color into the mixture which he used for the background, then painted into the area of middle-ground which is the lake.

Yong demonstrated his watercolor painting, as he taught to his students in his class in the college, the only difference is that he explained his each step in a much basic level, from what he will do, why and how he will do it, so his audience could follow him and understand him on each step of his demonstration.

Yong used layer by layer painting method, sometimes he painted while the paper was still wet, sometimes he painted after the paper is almost dry, to create the different softness of watercolor effects.

At the end of his demonstration, he mixed the brown with a bit of blue color then paint the fore-ground – the plants. In his entire 25 minutes step by step watercolor demonstration of the landscape painting, he talked more then painted, brought his audience to be with him from this thoughts to the actions.