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Senior Arts Workshop focuses on watercolors

Brush stroke of genius

Mary Martello, of Marquette, practices watercolor painting Tuesday at a Senior Arts workshop at the Marquette Arts and Culture Center. Instructor Carl Mayer showed brush technique along with other ways to create unique art. (Journal photo by Christie Bleck)
Carl Mayer demonstrates brush techniques at a Senior Arts workshop on Tuesday at the Marquette Arts and Culture Center. (Journal photo by Christie Bleck)

MARQUETTE — They might not have had aspirations for being the next Winslow Homer or Georgia O’Keeffe, but the budding artists in Tuesday’s Senior Arts workshop probably were happy with dabbing watercolor paint on paper in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

It was a start, after all.

Local artist Carl Mayer, who for years taught art to youths in Marquette Area Public Schools, continues to pass on his wisdom in a humorous and relaxing way, this time at the Marquette Arts and Culture Center.

He acknowledged a blank piece of paper can be a scary thing.

The secret to getting past that fear?

“I want you to relax,” was Mayer’s recommendation.

The focus Tuesday was watercolor painting, with Mayer putting in a few brush strokes himself.

“When I teach, a lot of it is demonstration,” Mayer said. “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

There were a few newbies in the class, and he addressed them with a sense of humor.

“Those of you that have never painted before, wonderful,” Mayer said. “You haven’t achieved, gotten any bad habits. Let me teach you a few.”

Each participant had thick watercolor paper, water, brushes and paints.

“You teach with the same materials your students have,” Mayer said.

And with those tools, they were given tips for using this medium.

Those tips included how to activate the pigment with water and ensuring their brushes are in the right shape for painting.

“Clean the brush as you go to the next one because you don’t want any red into the orange,” Mayer told the students.

Proper professional procedure is important, he said.

“If you do this, I can guarantee results on your part,” Mayer said.

Even proper tool setup was covered to avoid minor calamities like dripping water over their paintings.

“Be sure you have water, and by the way, If you’re right-handed, the brushes and the paint and water (are) on the same side,” Mayer said. “If you’re left-handed, just the opposite.”

Mayer, as he promised earlier in the session, demonstrated how to move the paint across the paper, showing good brush control and the use of colors.

However, he also watched the students practice the brushing, guiding them along the way.

“Play with the colors,” Mayer said. “This is the name of the game from here on out.”

One of his mantras is “same same, shame shame,” and that means avoiding the visually boring.

In fact, he gave the class a few handouts with drawings of how to draw trees with features like differing lines, length, thickness, direction and space between lines.

Whether a painting is bright orange or a muted gray, of course, can evoke different emotions with people.

“Color is one of the big, big mood makers,” said Mayer, who showed the class an original picture of a landscape and how the different use of colors changed the finished results in subsequent pieces.

Mayer cautioned against starting a painting before thinking about it, which included the difficulty of trying to make a color lighter.

“It’s easier to get an area darker,” he said.

With all his advice, Mayer said they should look for the positive in the activity and find their own way.

“This is the way I work,” he said. “You’ll find a way that’s comfortable for you.”

Workshop participants had different reasons for attending the event.

Mary Martello, of Marquette, said: “Because I love to paint. He used to be my teacher.”

For Marquette’s Sally Penning, a self-described crafter, it was to get her out of the house.

However, she had a more creative yet practical purpose.

“I like art, and it’s a way of learning a new art without having to purchase all the supplies,” Penning said.

Mayer hoped the students would continue making art on their own, introducing them to watercolor procedures to allow them to further explore the medium.

He gave them yet another piece of advice: “Don’t place restrictions on yourself. Whatever’s going to help, do it.”

For more information on the Senior Arts program, contact the MACC at 906-228-0472 or email arts-culture@mqtcty.org.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.

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