Terri Hill presented her unusual approach to watercolors at the FALC meeting today. She starts with an underpainting – an abstract shape in primary colors that will later shine through the finishes artwork, unifying and complementing Terri’s vibrant colors. What else that underpainting does is suggest very natural highlights and shadows as if created by objects not visible in the painting. The result is nothing short of magical.

Terri painted from her own photos, but what I loved was that she was using them as a vague reference, an idea for the subject and composition, but not as something that should be copied.

In an odd way, watching her working on a background that progressed from an abstract to gently moving water helped me to overcome a creative block with one of my colored pencil pieces. Where nothing seemed to work, to the point of not wanting to even try anything anymore, I now see many new possibilities – so nice to feel free again, thank you, Terri!