Come to Online Watercolor class Wednesday, May 20

The weather has been unpredictable this week, but the studio mannequin is singin' in the rain. He's excited about the new online watercolor class that starts tomorrow evening!

We're very happy to welcome you to Watercolor Painting from the shoeless classroom tomorrow evening at Skagit Valley College online.

It's not too late to join us! Call, sign up online or email to register:

Update: May 19, 2020
Online watercolor classes have been scheduled at Skagit Valley College 
For more details and How to register for SVC Wednesdays please follow this link.

• Dates: 5/20/2020 - 6/24/2020
  Days: W    Times: Arranged  

CouriAnne Williams
Continuing & Community Education Director Mount Vernon Campus
Register by phone 360.416.7638 
courianne.williams@skagit.edu

New Online Zoom Watercolor Class in 8 Days

 I see the studio mannequin is busy taking selfies for his Zoom profile.

Get ready, get set,.....Paint! 

In just 8 days our brand new live online watercolor classes begin! The studio is all set up. I dove into the deep end of my crash course on teaching watercolor remotely. I’ve been practicing on Zoom with my students from previous classes. I’m sure there will be some adjustments to be made during the process of using an online format but we’re doing it!

It’s so wonderful seeing those smiling faces and hearing the voices we’ve been missing. Nothing can replace the experience of being there for an actual in person watercolor class as we have been accustomed to in the past. However, there is a certain personal perspective and relaxed comaraderie one can enjoy while learning in the shoeless classroom. We can safely be up close without a mask while looking over the details in a painting.

All the features of our usual watercolor class will be there: slide references, videos, Q&A, assignments to work on in class, time to work on your own and live demonstrations to watch. There will be group and private critiques. Some days we may even venture outdoors to enjoy the beautiful spring weather. When the day’s class is over, you don’t have to pack up and get in your car because you’re already home! If you miss a session you may access a recording, or just go back to review something you want to understand better.  The familiar class email with homework assignments will be sent after class as usual.

One day we will return to the Skylight Room and sit together side by side as we explore new ways to experience the world of watercolor. Meanwhile, come to class live online and indulge your creativity with a wonderful family of watercolor painting friends at Kirkland Arts Center.

Update: May 1, 2020
Online watercolor classes have been scheduled at Skagit Valley College 
For more details and How to register for SVC Wednesdays please follow this link.

• Dates: 5/20/2020 - 6/24/2020
  Days: W    Times: Arranged  

CouriAnne Williams
Continuing & Community Education Director Mount Vernon Campus
Register by phone 360.416.7638 
courianne.williams@skagit.edu

For more details and How to register for KAC Fridays please  follow this link.'

425) 822-7161

info@kirklandartscenter.org-6059395

Office Hours:   Monday-Friday, 9 AM-5 PM

Register by Phone: (425) 822-7161

Materials list-Suggested only-You may work with what you have at home.

Tulip Day

My extremely modest ‘rows’ of tulips

 I’m thinking about our daughter in California today, whose favorite flower is the tulip. When she was a child, our family would go out to the fields where thousands of tulips made a colorful patchwork as far as you could see. We were allowed to park along the roadside then. Kodak would choose a particularly dramatic view and build a platform for anyone to climb up and get some great snapshots.

Today we are under “shelter at home” self isolation because of the Covid-19 pandemic.  California has not been under this quarantine as long as we have. I have been self in self isolation since March 28! If that is what it takes to protect ourselves and others from infection, then that is what we’ll do!

In the Skagit Valley they are already clipping off the tulip heads to promote the development of the underground bulbs. We are discouraged from venturing out to the tulip fields and causing traffic problems for the locals. So today I offer my modest little “field”.  I’ve left them to bloom beside the road for those on neighborhood walks to enjoy. Later today, difficult as it will be, I will cut these flowers down so that they will grow and propagate next year. I am pleasantly surprised that our feral rabbits haven’t already munched these down!

Again! Despite warnings to stay out of the rows, the studio mannequin can’t resist stepping in to get a few selfies.

Watercolor Tulips

Looking back at another spring season full of tulips and time spent on the deck with watercolors.

Painting watercolor tulips in the sunshine out on the deck.

I divided up my Arches 140 lb. CP paper with painters’ tape and drew with a Micron waterproof pen.

I love the way natural light infuses the shadows with color! 

New Online Watercolor Classes Coming Up

I see the studio mannequin is busy taking selfies for his zoom profile.

My interactive online watercolor classes are about to launch! We will be starting in May. 

If you’re interested DM me on Instagram @ michelecooperart or leave a comment here on my blog. 

Even though we are apart, we can still paint together. 

See my free watercolor demonstrations on my YouTube Channel here. 

Hip Hop Handwashing Song

Here’s a fun hand washing song for all ages that will make you smile. 😄 Watch the classic performance from “The Wedding Singer.

Screen shot from “The Wedding Singer”

If you wash your hands through “try to move your feet” and rinse them off, you should be up to 20 seconds.

i said a hip hop the hippie the hippie
to the hip hip hop, a you dont stop 
the rock it to the bang bang boogie 
say up jumped the boogie 
to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat

now what you hear is not a test--i'm rappin to the beat
and me, the groove, and my friends 
are gonna try to move your feet
see i am wonder mike and i like to say hello
to the black, to the white, the red, and the brown,
the purple and yellow
but first i gotta bang bang the boogie to the boogie
say up jump the boogie to the bang bang boogie
let's rock, you dont stop
rock the riddle that will make your body rock
well so far youve heard my voice 
but i brought two friends along 
and next on the mike is my man hank
come on, hank, sing that song

source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/soundtracks/w/theweddingsingerlyrics/rappersdelightlyrics.html

Mountains and Wordsworth

Original Watercolor by Michele Cooper (15x22”)If you follow my instagram or Facebook art page, you have probably already seen this painting and the following quote. I include it here for those who haven't seen it yet.

Mountains can reflect emotional influences, so as to lift the spirit and powerfully affect for good the moral life of humanity. William Wordsworth expressed this in his poem "Tintern Abbey", published in Lyrical Ballads (1798):

Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods,
And mountains; and of all the mighty world
Of eye, and ear, well pleased to recognize
In nature and the language of the sense,
The anchor of purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being. 

Watercolor Class Winter/Spring 2020

UPDATE: MARCH 20, 2020 ALL CLASSES ARE POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
UPDATE: TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2020

Wednesday, March 11, night class at Skagit Valley College is cancelled until further notice.

Friday, March 6 Intermediate watercolor class is postponed. King County Health has issued an announcement asking for people 60 and older or anyone with underlying health issues not to go out and so that means many of us. Also anyone who’s pregnant 🧐

I am sending you a link to that announcement and you’ll probably see it on your nightly news tonight. 

https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/news/2020/March/5-slowing-the-impact.aspx

Presently, I am not aware of anyone that we are associated with who has this virus. So stay healthy, take care of yourself and I will check with you before class next week.

UPDATE: TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020
Session 2 of the Guilded Gallery watercolor class is cancelled. Because of under enrollment due to caution regarding community spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) we are canceling watercolor class previously scheduled for March 5-April 2, 2020. It is hoped that this epidemic will have passed sufficiently to allow class to resume sometime in April. Meanwhile, I trust you and those close to you will stay calm, safe and healthy.
Please subscribe for further updates or follow me on Instagram @michelecooperart.

Painting Watercolor with Michele Cooper, Wednesday 6-9pm
Skagit Valley College, Mt Vernon
Winter Registration: 360.416.7638
January 22-March 11, 2020

• Spring Quarter 
• April 8-May 27, 2020

Watercolor with Michele Cooper at A Guilded Gallery, Thursday 10am-1pm
Stanwood, Camano Island 
Winter Registration: (360) 629-2787
Series 1: January 23, 30, Feb 6, 13, 20

Series 2: March 5, 22, 19, 26, April 2

Intermediate Watercolor, Friday 10am-1:00pm
Kirkland Arts Center
Winter Registration: (425) 822-7161;108
January 24-March 13, 2020

Introduction to Watercolor Workshop
Kirkland Arts Center
Registration: (425) 822-7161;108
March 14 & 15, 2020
Saturday and Sunday (10am-4pm)

Intermediate Watercolor Friday 10am-1:00pm
Kirkland Arts Center
Spring Registration: (425) 822-7161;108
April 10-May 29, 2020

Find me on Instagram @michelecooperart
linktr.ee/michelecooperart

My USK workshop is open for early registration on Feb 29

On location sketch 2 years ago. See what’s new this year. Come sketch with me on Saturday, May 23, 2020

Urban Sketchers Seattle is excited to announce the 2020 USk 10x10 Workshop Program!

The USk 10x10 program is a worldwide initiative to offer educational workshops wherever sketchers live. Launched in celebration of Urban Sketchers’ 10th anniversary in 2017, the program brings a variety of courses on urban sketching techniques, approaches and media. This is the fourth consecutive year that USk Seattle is participating. With 15 workshops scheduled, it’s our biggest program yet!

Warm up exercises and getting to know our materials

Come sketch with me on Saturday, May 23, 2020. My workshop is #7, entitled “First Steps into Urban Sketching” and is designed for those who are new to urban sketching. Here’s a link to a review by Jane Dillon Wingfield.

Registration begins Saturday, Feb. 29, 9 a.m.The cost for each 3½-hour workshop is $60 through our “early bird” date, March 27, 2020. After that date, the price is $70 per workshop. Registration will be processed by the event management website, Brown Paper Tickets. Please see the program schedule and workshop details and read the FAQ for registration information (link below).

http://seattle.urbansketchers.org/p/seattle-usk.html

Handmade "Specimen Slides" for Junk Journals

Screen shot from my new video on making specimen slide embellishments ala ArtyMaze

I just announced on my IG account that I have a new video uploaded on my YouTube craft channel.

Here's one of the freebie frames with my own butterfly insert and a napkin collaged pocket.

I made this napkin collaged pocket with lace, button, paper quote, sewn muslin and my own original specimen slide.

I think my handmade bead (made from rolled magazine paper and glass beads) looks a bit like a chrysalis, don't you?

See my Instagram feed @michelecooperart
Watch the video on how I make these at MicheleCooperCraft on YouTube.