Alexis Lavine loves to teach, to share her many decades of making art, and to show people how she works. Along her journey through life and her pathway through art, she has succeeded in reaching her biggest and most challenging goal of all, by achieving signature status in both the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society. She still has to pinch herself, when she thinks about that! She has earned some other signature memberships in other watercolor societies, found galleries to represent her work, and she has won some nice awards for her paintings … but she thinks it is kind of boring and bragging to read a list of them. Instead she wants to let her work speak for itself. And she will speak for herself too, when she meets with you in February. She is looking forward to seeing you then!

DESIGN & PAINT A VIGNETTE!

Don’t we love the look of a pristine, sparkling, white sheet of watercolor paper? A vignette is a painting that does not fill every square inch of our paper. It leaves some areas, usually in the corners, unpainted, and we can celebrate our beautiful watercolor paper by leaving it revealed in this way.

Alexis is a watercolor painter, but this subject, and the principles behind it, can be utilized by ALL painters, using ALL media!

In this demo, you will see Alexis create an image, which ties into the edges of the paper, seamlessly interlocking with untouched sections of white paper near the corners and the borders. Choosing a vignette format can be a clever way to deal with certain problematic subjects, and it can result in paintings which are even more captivating and dynamic than paintings which fill up the complete rectangle. Creating a successful vignette depends on substantial principles, thoughtful designing, and inventive use of values, colors, and edges. Alexis will give you valuable instruction, lots of great ideas, and plenty of inspiration, as to how to use this format.

Here are some example of vignettes. Notice how Alexis has left areas of beautiful white paper, interlocking them with the painted areas of her image. Join Alexis for an evening of energizing, encouraging, and valuable instruction. You’ll have ideas and plans to keep you painting for a long time!