Most of the time I want to use what I learned from oil painting in watercolor painting, to build form with shadows and light. But sometimes I want my work to be juicier, more obviously a watercolor. I wanted to learn how to paint with colors joyous and pure, applying water and color without testing everything first. I surfed the web, looking for an artist I thought I could learn from. I had three requirements. I was looking for an artist:

whose style was fresh and “watercolory”;
who knew how to paint people;
who gave online classes.

Puffed Up Chickadee by Janine Helton — *Puffed Up Chickadee* by Janine Helton

At last I found this artist: Janine Helton, who lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Take a look at her website, and you’ll see she obviously loves birds—her paintings of birds are tender and beautiful. When one views her wonderful portraits, it is obvious that she also loves human faces.

I began by taking a couple of classes from Janine, Negative Painting for Watercolorists. Most artists know that “negative painting” is what you do when you don’t think that painting a form itself will have the best results. For example, it often works better to paint the space around a vase or a flower than to paint the vase or flower itself. But there is much more than this concept to Janine’s negative painting approach.

Aging Rose, negatively painted by Jan Alice Keeling — *Aging Rose*, negatively painted by Jan Alice Keeling

She often uses Strathmore Aquarius II Watercolor Paper, an inexpensive lightweight paper whose beauty is that it lies flat, without taping, even when you use watery paint. She begins by wetting the paper on both sides, and she may float and spatter some color on the front side to make an interesting underpainting.

After this first layer is dry comes the unusual part. You find the shape in the group of flowers or foliage that looks closest to you, and you paint around that shape, feathering the edges of the wash so a line remains only around that first shape. After drying, you add another shape or shapes by sketching or tracing, and paint around those shapes with a darker color. What is different about this approach is that you are not using shadows to create form! The results can be quite lovely.

Some of the layers painted for Aging Rose — Some of the layers painted for *Aging Rose*

I love the round, pointy brushes Janine recommends for negative painting: Loew-Cornell 7020 Ultra Round. They hold a LOT of water and have an amazing sharp point. They are synthetic, therefore inexpensive, so you won’t feel guilty if you scrub an area with the point.

I learned so much more from Janine, from the Negative Painting classes as well as from her Bird and Portrait classes. I’m sure I will mention Janine and her wonderful approaches to painting in future posts.

My latest palette now consists of colors that are based on Janine’s palette of colors. I am thrilled with the selection. I will write more about my new palette later.