March 28, 2024

‘Bananas about watercolor’

Class teaches 14 locals the basics of watercolor

GREENFIELD — In an effort to bring art education to all, the Iowa Watercolor Society, which exists for watercolor enthusiasts, brought a watercolor class to Greenfield’s Warren Cultural Center Saturday, Oct. 16 that brought in 14 students.

The classes are a package deal with a display of watercolor works that are hanging in the WCC lobby until the end of November.

Jan Vander Linden, of West Des Moines, was one of the class’ instructors and enjoyed Greenfield’s quaint charm while she was here.

“The Iowa Watercolor Society is for anyone who is absolutely bananas about watercolor,” Vander Linden explained. “In order to outreach to areas that don’t have as many opportunities as the big cities, we offer this traveling exhibit with the class. It’s open to anybody. There’s no level required for this class, in fact there were kids in this class.”

To start, Vander Linden, and co-instructor Mayela Fonseca, showed participants various techniques needed to paint and the tools that would be required to perform them. They then led students in an exercise of painting various food items, like vegetables, fruits and mushrooms.

“Watercolor gives us joy in life and we hope it gives others joy in life,” Vander Linden said.

Watercolor isn’t an easy medium to use, however when you get the hang of it, it’s not too bad.

“If you know drawing and know color, the only thing you need to remember with watercolor is that it’s transparent,” Vander Linden said. “If you paint one color on top of another, you’re going to see the other color underneath it. You paint yellow on top of green and you’re going to get yellow/green, not yellow and green.”

Vander Linden has been painting as a vocation since 1978, when she quit her other full-time job. Not unlike anything else, when you paint full-time, it can become a chore sometimes, but it’s one she wouldn’t trade for anything.

Anita area resident Lorilyn Schultes was a participant with her granddaughter, Anna Herrick. They said it was the first time they got to learn something together and enjoyed the experience of catching the watercolor bug immensely.

“There are a lot more steps to it [than I’ve done in school],” Herrick said. “We made mushrooms, a lemon, a carrot, kiwi, then we outlined it in a pen. It’s a lot harder than I thought.”

“This was priceless to spend time together and learn all the techniques together,” Schultes said. “I’ve not done this before at all. It’s a lot tougher than it looks. There are a lot of different techniques that are involved. The teachers were excellent.”

Caleb Nelson

Caleb Nelson

Caleb Nelson has served as News Editor of the Adair County Free Press and Fontanelle Observer since Oct. 2017. He and his wife Kilee live in Greenfield. In Greenfield and the greater Adair County area, he values the opportunity to tell peoples' stories, enjoys playing guitar, following all levels of sports, and being a part of his local church.