Marian Wiseman

All of my adult life I wanted to paint watercolors. Actually, it was more “if I ever do any art, I want it to be watercolors.” In all honesty, I think that sentiment arose because I once heard someone say that watercolor was the most difficult of all painting media. In other words, I wasn’t drawn to watercolor because it is the most beautiful and true and serene of all art (which it is) but because of some perverse psychological flaw that attracts me to the difficult. (Thus it was that I majored in English, because I found it much harder than the sciences or social studies.)

And thus it was that the first art class I ever took was “Beginning Watercolor,” taught by Gina Clapp at CHAW. That was 2010, as I was nearing retirement. I had never even had art in junior high or high school, so I was a REAL beginner.

As Gina introduced us to the basics of mixing paints, creating a wash, and painting what you see, she also commiserated with us about the despair of making a mistake and not being able to repair it, the heartache of dripping on top of a finished portion of your painting and spoiling it. What I had heard decades earlier about watercolor being the most difficult was borne out. As Gina put it, “to paint in watercolor is to suffer.”

But I have soldiered on, and I love painting with watercolors. The Wednesday Studio provides a great milieu for me to continue learning.

Yangze River Market

From my first class with Gina.

2013: Alaska Mushrooms