whitehall farm studios : Art Therapy

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 1914

Every Thursday evening at Whitehall Farm Studios, us ladies (and an occasional gentleman) get together and ART. We let down our inhibitions and CREATE. We run Art Therapy in a three-week session format, with a new theme every session. We just completed our 'Watercolor Blooms' and they were as lovely to paint as they are to admire.

Rachael started the session off with a Ripped Watercolored Paper Floral, Beth's week covered Oversized Blooms, and Gretchen capped off the session with an ode to Charles Rennie Mackintosh with our own stylized Botanicals.

Gretchen's Botanical project emerged out of her admiration for Glaskow Art Nouveau watercolorists Charles Rennie Mackintosh (June 7, 1868 – December 10, 1928) and his wife Margaret MacDonald.   Mackintosh, a main representative of the Arts and Crafts Movement, derived his own fluid style out of Japonisme, because of its restraint and simple linear forms. Not every petal or stem was painted, but those that were burst forth with color. This contrast between color and line is what made Mackintosh and his wife some of the greatest watercolorists of their time.

The Project:

BEFORE-HAND: Soak a few sheets of watercolor paper in a warm coffee bath (Gretchen used Green Mountain Decaff- since it's a strong coffee, and she doesn't drink decaff, but had it on-hand). Let them dry.

Step One:   Choose your Botanical Inspiration. We used images of our favorite plant life.

Step Two:   Delicately draw out the image, using a pencil. Use only lines.

Step Three:   Using a thin-line BROWN sharpee, draw in the lines of the floral.

Step Four:   Make sure you have added the special boxed botanical notation/date/signature!

Step Five:   Watercolor. Some of Mackintosh's work is quite colorful, some is very restrained. Some are nearly all painted in, some have barely any colored passages. But all are just lovely.

OUR WORK: