Gail Johannes

Watercolor & Acrylic Painting
Classes & Workshops
http://www.gailjohannesarts.com/
Gail Johannes Paints on FaceBook
Featured Artist February/March 2016
As an avid outdoorswoman, I find inspiration in nature, watching birds, paddling and hiking into protected wildlands, and photographing wildlife. I work the colors and forms captured with my camera into watercolor paintings in impressionistic and abstract ways.
Watercolor is not the easiest medium, but we've grown to understand each other- it lets me continue to experiment and grow while keeping me honest! I have a strong drawing background which I rely on in my work. Some of my pieces have won award recognition, which is expecialy sweet coming from peers that bang the same drum!
Formerly a dental hygienist, I find the freedom of painting helps me balance both sides of my brain. But my greatest "a-ha" moments occurred when I began teaching the medium. Creativity cannot be 'taught', but the tools of creativity certainly can be. Breaking the art of watercolor into bite-size steps requires a systematic deconstruction of my own process heavily peppered with the basic techniques and theory the medium requires. There's the challenge: to enable a new painter to find their own inner artist. Somewhere in this progression I have found better ways to express my own ideas and fresh ways to use old techniques.
I currently make my home in Chewelah, spreading my creative time between studio work and teaching. Interested in learning the medium? Check out www.gailjohannesarts.com for class info, or visit me on FaceBook at Gail Johannes Paints.
As an avid outdoorswoman, I find inspiration in nature, watching birds, paddling and hiking into protected wildlands, and photographing wildlife. I work the colors and forms captured with my camera into watercolor paintings in impressionistic and abstract ways.
Watercolor is not the easiest medium, but we've grown to understand each other- it lets me continue to experiment and grow while keeping me honest! I have a strong drawing background which I rely on in my work. Some of my pieces have won award recognition, which is expecialy sweet coming from peers that bang the same drum!
Formerly a dental hygienist, I find the freedom of painting helps me balance both sides of my brain. But my greatest "a-ha" moments occurred when I began teaching the medium. Creativity cannot be 'taught', but the tools of creativity certainly can be. Breaking the art of watercolor into bite-size steps requires a systematic deconstruction of my own process heavily peppered with the basic techniques and theory the medium requires. There's the challenge: to enable a new painter to find their own inner artist. Somewhere in this progression I have found better ways to express my own ideas and fresh ways to use old techniques.
I currently make my home in Chewelah, spreading my creative time between studio work and teaching. Interested in learning the medium? Check out www.gailjohannesarts.com for class info, or visit me on FaceBook at Gail Johannes Paints.