Report on the February 2015 meeting:
Paul Oman: Watercolor landscape
Report by Barb Parisien, Photos by Barb Parisien and Connie Keithahn
Paul Oman knew from early childhood that he would be a painter. He attributes his art journey to the support from his parents who signed him up for painting lessons at age 10. Oman based his demo on a street scene photo in which “the composition works although I have to imagine the light.”
He paints vertically, working with a bead of water that collects at the bottom of his wash. Beginning with an underpainting of a warm wash he links all of the colors and paints right through his drawing of cars and people saving a few whites as highlights. The underpainting will show through the cool wash in his shadows. He leaves the windows very light, imagining sunlight on one side of the building. A bluish-lavender shadow dominates the foreground. He then lets the painting dry a bit, brushing in the background hills in warm sienna followed by dark values on the left side. He brings shadows across horizontally and pulls vertical lines right through those shadows to suggest sidewalks and street lines.
In demonstrating these confident lines he held his brush high up on the handle saying, “This is fun and free.”Then holding down by the ferrule, “This is nervous.”
After completing a successful watercolor painting, Oman commented on his work with churches and schools where his large paintings become the impetus for important conversations. His larger-than-life paintings are done on canvas with acrylic house paint. More information can be found on his website www.paulomanfineart.com.