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‘Water painting’ to be weekend class at SCC
Artist Phyllis Jarvinen of Webster will teach a weekend class titled “Water Reading for the Visual Artist” at Southwestern Community College this fall.
The sessions are scheduled for three Saturdays, Sept. 16, Oct. 14 and Nov. 4.
Jarvinen said the idea for the class came to her after she saw several landscape paintings and drawings by artists who were adept at painting mountains and other scenery but struggled with capturing water.
Local artist Phyllis Jarvinen, whose works include “Indian Creek,” above, and “Bradley Branch,” below, will teach a painting class this fall through Southwestern Community College. Participants will learn how to make the water in their landscapes look more realistic, Jarvinen said. Cost of the class, which will meet on three Saturdays – Sept. 16, Oct. 14 and Nov. 4 – is $40. For information, call SCC at 586-4091, ext. 426, or Jarvinen at 226-4902.
“They were unable to translate the movement of rivers, creeks, and waterfalls to paper or canvas,” she said.
The artists’ realistically painted works had many appealing qualities, but their lack of knowledge about moving water was “jarring” and spoiled what were otherwise fine paintings, Jarvinen said.
Jarvinen, who worked as a whitewater raft guide and canoeing instructor in the Southeast and Idaho for a decade, has run rivers in Arizona (including the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon), Minnesota, and Canada. Now a painter, she puts that experience into her detailed images of eddies, waterfalls, and mountain creeks.
“Drawing or painting moving water can be intimidating for the most skilled artist, but it doesn’t have to be,” she said. “My purpose in offering this class is to help other painters expand their potential subjects and add convincing details to their work.”
Jarvinen’s water paintings have been shown recently at an exhibition titled “Stream Connotations” at Spring Street Cafˇ.
Her latest stream paintings, “Stream of Consciousness,” will be on display at the Swain County Center for the Arts in Bryson City beginning Sept. 26.
The SCC class will include an explanation of the dynamics and features of moving water, including a student practice session. After lunch, the class will meet beside the river, weather permitting.
Jarvinen said she hopes artists can gain several skills from the class, including “visual understanding of the features of moving water and a way to analyze what you are seeing, so that you can include moving water in your work as part of your subject whenever you want to, depicting it in a realistic manner with confidence.”
The cost of the class is $40; drawing supplies will be available for an additional fee with advance notice.
For more information, contact Southwestern Community College at 586-4091, ext. 426, or the artist at 226-4902.
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