- The earliest art I remember is I really loved the look of watercolor.

I just always loved it.

So never really thought I would take it up, but once I did, I was hooked, and nobody really told me I had talent, but I did love art.

I think the most advanced thing I did was take a drawing class in high school, but always did the crafty things with my mom and cross-stitch and ceramics, and I did like to draw.

I mean, people from high school, they'll say, "I remember you drawing in class," just, you know, doodling.

But it wasn't until my kids were grown and you know, I was married to Mike later in life, and we were down in St. Charles at the Mosaics Art Festival that comes every September, I believe it's September, October, and just enjoying the art.

We walked into a booth of a watercolor artist.

Jean McMullen is the artist.

So I started taking classes with her in the fall of 2009.

And I took classes with her for several years.

When I started taking watercolor lessons, I had never done any other kind of painting, besides painting ceramics, but no oil, no acrylic, nothing like that.

So I start taking lessons and the first day they tell me that this is the most difficult medium to master.

And I'm like, okay.

So I don't know any better, I don't know.

I do do have students that come from an oil background, and I see the challenges now, but I started with watercolor.

I love the fact that there's mystery to it, that you don't always know what's gonna happen.

But of course, with practice, you know, and you learn how much water to how much pigment on the brush, you can work dry on dry, like just a regular paintbrush on dry paper, and you can work wet on wet.

So there's lots of these fancy little ways you can do watercolor.

I like to use the glazing technique.

It's where you put a thin layer of watercolor and you let that dry completely before you do the next layer.

And it just, whatever the colors underneath will glow through.

And again, it does take time to dry.

So it may take me weeks.

I don't use hair dryers.

I don't like to use a hair dryer.

The main reason is watercolor does its magic when it's wet.

So if you leave it alone, it may do things like, a lot of people say they don't like those little blossoms that happen or this and that, but part of that's the charm of watercolor.

So I'm just gonna use some of these purples- My Next Level class, I limit it to eight students because I prefer small classes.

I want them to get their money's worth.

I don't charge much, but it's a time to get together and to paint together.

I actually have a couple students who are quite advanced, and most of my students have had quite a bit of experience.

I don't have any beginners, 'cause I don't really wanna teach beginners, but so they're at different levels.

They're working on different subjects, different types of things, and it's fun to, you know, go from one person to the next and just to help them.

They may be at the stage where they're very good painters, but they need help with composition, or they need help with maybe color or value.

Those kind of, all those design elements that are so important that can just make your painting go from good to great.

Another reason why my Next Level classes are successful is because the artists are able to learn from each other as well.

In fact, I learn from my students too.

Artists are very solitary.

So there's a lot to learn and just from working yourself.

I mean, just working with the paint and the pigment, I mean, that's the main way of learning watercolor.

But then when you get with another artist who's been learning their solitary ways and their solitary ways, and then you get ideas from other people like, oh, I never thought of doing it that way.

And encouragement as far as having a fresh eye to look at your work, to give you a critique, to critique each other's work, that kind of thing.

So it is great to have other artists who you you can consult with.

So I highly recommend that for anyone who's, you know, wanting to start out painting, you know, get in a group, get in a local watercolor society, something like that where you can rub shoulders and learn from other artists.

I'm fortunate to not have to sell my work to make a living.

So I love to paint.

I don't know that I'd call it a hobby because it's really part of me now.

I can't really go a day without thinking about it or doing it.

So I would recommend for anyone who's serious about watercolor and they're starting out and maybe they don't have a big studio to work in.

Find a little corner of your home where you can keep it out and come to it anytime you want to, maybe even if it's five minutes.

Sometimes, if I have a busy day, I might just come in here and walk around and look at my paintings, look at the works in progress, maybe even write down a few notes like, "Oh, I wanna do this on this painting or that."

And I think the thinking part of it is a big part of the creation part.

For me, it is.

The more I think, the better my painting's gonna turn out and the more I just try to rush through it.

I'm just not one of those artists that can just paint a beautiful portrait from start to finish.

And there are artists like that out there.

I'm just not one of them.

I don't consider it a job either, because I paint what I want.

As you can see, I'm painting a lot of portraits.

People generally aren't gonna buy portraits if they don't know the person.

They might.

I mean, I've had some success there, but a lot of times they're not.

And I'm doing it 'cause I love it.