Artwork by Mindy Bray.
Painting: Watercolors and Plants
In this 4-week class, students will explore both expressive and representational techniques in watercolor, ink, and gouache. Using seasonal, botanical subjects such as branches and flowers, students will complete drawings that include texture, color, and depth. Students will learn a variety of water media techniques including stretching paper, creating washes, and building transparent vs. opaque layers. We will make connections to work in the DAM’s Arts of Asia collection, including the use of value to create depth in the ink painting Bamboo by Chinese artist Zhou Zhenyue, or the use of texture and brushwork in the piece White Herons and an Old Willow by Japanese artist Kikuchi Hobun. We will also look at contemporary uses of watercolor in the museum's collection, including watercolor drawings by Enrique Martinez Celaya and Laura Ball.
What to Expect: This class meets weekly on Wednesdays and welcomes both beginners as well as students who have some drawing or painting experience. We will visit the galleries together to discuss water media work in the DAM's collections, and then spend time learning new techniques in small studies in the classroom. Students will then use these new approaches in a larger, finished drawing from observation of botanical subjects. We will have the option to work outdoors from life in the Sensory Garden or focus indoors on our favorite houseplants or branches.
Creative Classes are taught in a studio art environment and offer an opportunity to learn from professional creatives through traditional and experimental approaches. Each class is uniquely designed by a creative educator for an adult audience, designed to help you learn a new skill or expand your own creative practice. Explore the Summer/Fall 2024 class schedule.
Photo by Third Dune Productions.
About the Educator
Mindy Bray is a painter and muralist based in Denver, CO. Her works examine the intersection of natural and built environments. The images are reduced and transformed to create complex visual fields of shape and pattern. Based on photographs of locations such as city parks, wilderness trails and residential landscapes, the works present liminal places that trace the complex relationship between people and their habitat. Mindy earned her Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Iowa in 2005 and has taught drawing and foundations at the University of Denver and Metropolitan State University. Her work has been exhibited nationally at galleries including Goodwin Fine Art, Rule Gallery and Ironton, and her work has been featured in New American Paintings, The Denver Post, Modern in Denver magazine, art ltd., and Luxe Interiors and Design. Mindy’s public commissions include permanent works at the Westin Hotel at Denver International Airport and the Colorado Convention Center, and her private commissions can be found in commercial and residential spaces throughout Denver.
To request a sign language interpreter or any other accessibility service, email access@denverartmuseum.org at least ten (10) business days in advance of the program. We will make every effort to provide accommodation for requests made outside of that window of time.
Class Cancellation Policy: If a class or workshop needs to be cancelled due to inclement weather or teacher illness, a “make-up” day will be scheduled on a Friday or Saturday as the educator’s schedule allows.
