Monica Austin will lead participants in an SWS one day class, diving into the mechanics of storytelling specifically with watercolor. Learn how to effectively transform your memories and emotions into visual stories for better results.
"Every painting begins with a spark - an image, a memory, a feeling - and becomes a story only you can tell," Monica says. This class is about uncovering that story and letting it guide every brushstroke. Where do you want to take your viewer? The class will explore how story and emotions shape composition, and how values bring depth, focus, and meaning to your work. Through shared exercises, you will see how a single subject can shift dramatically when viewed through different narratives. Then the focus turns to you: what do you want YOUR painting to say?
More from Monica:
"As artists, we all want to capture something in our art. What that is varies from person to person. Sometimes we create simply to get something out of our heads or off our hearts. Sometimes we want to hold onto a sweet memory before it fades - to capture the little things that made a moment special. And sometimes we want to share an experience, lived or imagined, in a way that allows someone else to feel a little of what we felt."
"I think it can be easy to get caught up in the 'side quests' of being an artist. We want to develop our technical skills, finally understand color theory, take every class we can, complete a 30-day painting challenge, get into exhibitions, or make work that sells. There are good reasons to pursue all of these things. But sometimes, in the middle of all that, we lose sight of something pretty important: telling a story."
"That might sound daunting. It still does to me. But let's start simply."
"Maybe the story you want to tell is just: I saw a beautiful flower. I appreciated it. I want to paint it so someone else can experience some of that beauty too. That's it. No grand philosophy required."
"Even a simple story like that starts to guide the decisions you make. What if that flower was your Nana's favorite flower, and the pot it's growing in is Nana's pot? Then maybe the pot matters to the story. What if the flower isn't connected to a person, but it was growing in a garden where the thick vibrant foliage was part of what made the scene so beautiful? Then maybe the setting belongs in the painting too. Or maybe the story really is just about the flower. In that case, stripping away the surrounding details might be the best way to tell it."
"Now let's say we've decided: we're painting a beautiful flower."
"You reach for your brushes. Do you grab the big ones? Flat brushes? Tiny, precise botanical brushes? That choice starts to shape the story. Your brushes affect the size and character of your marks, the looseness or precision, and ultimately how the flower feels."
"Then you reach for your paint. Do you want smooth, clean color? The rough texture of granulating pigments? Light, luminous layers built up slowly? Or an opaque color that goes down in one bold stroke?"
"Here's the fun part: there isn't one right answer. You could turn in any direction at each point in the process, and each choice would lead you somewhere different. That's what we're going to dig into in Story Class: What is our story - and which way do we turn?"