Tim McGee: Watercolor Apprentice

 

When I was in college, I took a watercolor class and performed poorly. In retrospect, I lacked sufficient patience for the medium. Forty-five years later, I found that my watercolors were still usable, and, as a semi-retired professor, I have developed some patience.

 

I joined a group of people who meet weekly at the Hopewell train station to make art. Hanging out with people who know what they are doing has been most beneficial. The other thing I found helpful was copying watercolorists who understand their medium. Initially, I tried copying Winslow Homer. That was a mistake because he is a genius.

 

The Latin adage Ars est celare artem, (Art is the concealment of art), speaks to the difficulty of actually seeing how great artist accomplish their magic.

 

I started copying the work of very good watercolorists. Eventually, I considered some of my copies worth framing. In addition to painting with the Artists at the Station, I attended a workshop led by James Toogood at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, started painting on Wednesdays at the Ewing Senior and Community Center, and took a few lessons from Joanne Augustine in Princeton. She convinced me that I was ready to stop copying other people’s watercolors and I should start making bigger paintings.

 

Most of what you see here are the results of me copying people whose watercolors I liked, all of which I have credited as “After ­_____,” naming the artist whose work I copied. My recent efforts are based on photographs or my own observations. I have yet to develop what might be called a style, but I am increasingly achieving effects I desire. I am greatly enjoying my apprenticeship.