"Sit back, Smile and Enjoy" June Rollins Demo

June Rollins with one of her watercolor Irises

"Smile and enjoy yourselves" was the opening to June Rollins demo and she gave us all cause to smile. Her floral watercolors are inspired from photos she has taken. She manipulates them using Photoshop and then makes a tracing for the watercolor. A black/white, as well a color picture, is printed and used for value study.

Her palette for the watercolor demo included Gamboge Yellow, Cad Orange, Pomegranate, Ultra Blue and Hookers Green with Burnt Sienna for dulling down. She used Cheap Joe's American Journey brand and 2 of their dragon's tongues brushes, one brush (the bigger) for pigment and the other for water. She showed a trick she learned for wetting a dry brush full of pigment... just dip your finger in water and apply it to the brush so you don't overwet your pigment on the brush.

Other tips? Have everything ready before starting. Use fresh watercolor paint, the consistency of cream, and mix in a clean tray. Let the paint dry naturally, as opposed to using a hair dryer to quicken the process. And when the art quality is going downhill... "WALK AWAY!"

Her Dreamscape: Alcohol Inks Workshop has been rescheduled for Thursday, May 17th from 1-4 at the Matthews Community Ctr. Interested? Email Nancy Kennedy at mag@nc-kennedy.com and put Alcohol Inks Workshop in the subject line.

June was unable to finish the iris at the demo but you can see the process on her website: http://junerollins.com/junerollins.com/Art_Demo_Videos.html.