Even with years of painting experience, Vancouver watercolorist Mary Griffin still struggles at times with her art.
Instead of throwing away a piece she doesn’t like, however, Griffin stows them away, sometimes for years. She tucked one of her watercolors under her bed and didn’t look at it again for at least five years. When she pulled it out, she realized all it really needed was more ink work. After touching it up, the painting was just right.
“Never give up on anything,” Griffin said Sunday afternoon while giving a watercolor demonstration at the Vancouver Community Library. About eight people gathered around as she painted a group of deciduous trees and their autumn leaves.
She started by covering her paper with water and a light yellow paint for the background. After drying the paper with a blow dryer, she used a large, round brush to blot on red, orange, coral and green leaves, careful to keep parts of her bright background intact.
“If you lose those light colors, they’re gone forever,” Griffin said. “The secret to watercolor is not to push (the paint) around a whole lot. … Try not to manipulate it too much.”
Throughout the demonstration, she encouraged questions and provided advice to the group.
For watercolor newbies on a budget, she recommended buying the primary colors and a gray paint first, and mixing the primary paints to create other colors. If the need arises to paint over something, make sure the first layer of paint is completely dry first. Otherwise, the colors can run and ruin the piece, she said.
She touched part of her painting with a fingertip. “OK, so that’s still wet,” she said. “I can’t mess with that.”
Griffin started painting with watercolors in 1995 and has taught the craft to adults and children. She periodically gives workshops at Arts Desire, 5604 N.E. St. Johns Road in Vancouver.
“From the word ‘go,’ I loved it,” Griffin said of watercolor painting. “You do get in that zone where you completely lose track of time, and that’s wonderful.”
She also taught watercolor painting to her best friend, Camas resident Barbara Hope of Hope Art, who attended the demonstration Sunday.
“That really pulls it together Mary,” Hope said as Griffin used a smaller brush to paint bold, brown branches behind her fall foliage.
Then came the finishing touches. Griffin used a permanent brown ink to outline some of her tree branches and bunches of leaves. She used a toothbrush to spatter red-orange flecks of paint on other spots.
Griffin stopped and stood back.
“So, I think I’m going to put a fork in that one for now,” she said. She reiterated advice she’d given earlier: “The best function of any teacher in watercolor is to tell you when to stop.”
The Artists in Action demonstrations are new to the Vancouver Community Library, librarian Supisa Oliver said. Griffin is the third artist in the series, which typically takes place in the afternoons on the first Sunday of the month. The next demonstration is Dec. 6.
Eight-year-old Aidan Tisnado and her dad, Mike Tisnado, came to the library Sunday for books but stumbled upon Griffin painting. After Griffin finished her piece, Aidan looked over some of the artist’s framed work she had brought to the library.
“I like that one because it looks like she used a sponge,” the Vancouver girl said, admiring a red-and-pink flower artwork Griffin made by painting on a piece of glass and pressing it onto paper.
“It’s a really old process,” Griffin explained. “You can do a whole bunch of them in a short time.”
Tom Darby of Vancouver was at the library to attend a drawing session upstairs, and found himself watching the watercolor demonstration first.
“I’m not a drawer; I’m trying to learn,” Darby said. “I thought I’d sit in and let some of this rub off on me and then go upstairs and be influenced by somebody else.”
