DRAMATIC ROCKS AND TREES

I'm taking a class with Tom Pollock at the Art School at the Old Church in Demarest, NJ.  One of the class members gave me a compliment and said this painting was "dramatic".  ...or "dynamic"....I can't remember.
Tom is a teacher who lets everyone paint what they want and goes around helping each person reach their potential.  He has been continually on my back to go "darker"...so "darker" I went.  Watercolor can be a little scary...and I've always been afraid of going darker.  He says he's trying to get everyone in the class to "go on the dark side."
So..this is a painting of my favorite park along the Hackensack River...next to the Riverside Square Mall in Hackensack, N.J.  Not many people find this park, but it is a favorite place now for my group of art friends, sponsored by the Cresskill Congregational Church, UCC ....www.cresskillucc.org.

A QUICK LOVELY SWAN PAINTING

Last summer, my partner and I travelled to Rockport, Mass.  We spent a week and then visited my son and his family who were in the process of moving to the Boston area.
One afternoon, we walked along the ocean shore in Rockport.  There was a small inlet with just one swan swimming in circles.  He (or she) was very gentle and complacent.
As I watched her swimming, I felt very peaceful.  Sometimes it's good to be alone, just "being", thinking and enjoying the sunshine.

I did this painting in Paulette Cochet's class at the Alpine Community Center.  The first thing we did was wet the whole watercolor sheet and then (leaving areas white), come back with blue, yellow and light red primary colors.  When I looked at the area of white, the swan just seemed to fit in there.  I had a photograph I used as reference....and there he (or she) is.

TRYING TO DO PORTRAITS

Well, I took a class last summer at the Montclair Museum art school.  It was just a one day session ...doing a portrait....with pencil and white conte crayons.
I actually succeeded.  Here's the portrait I did at home after the class. This is one of my granddaughters and it actually looks like her!
But now...I keep trying....and I'm still struggling with getting a likeness of my other two grandchildren.  FRUSTRATION!   But that's what art is.