Jane Lafazio is a great teacher and I got to take a class from her at Art Is You in Stamford, CT a few weeks ago. We worked on hot press watercolor paper, permanent black markers, watercolors and items from nature to sketch and color.
That was our class examples (below).
We painted on book pages, too, cut the image out and pasted them on our pages for some added texture and variety. You can see the actual leaf with my painted leaf.
I brought mostly dry things like acorns, nuts and an oyster shell that I found when walking my dog. Apparently, neighbors had oysters one weekend as there were shells at the end of the drive way. (I scrubbed that sucker good!). I flew up to Connecticut so I steered away from pumpkins and gourds which I thought would be fun. The oyster shell was a real challenge but that was good for me.
Jane has an amazing way with watercolors and encouraged us to try a pinecone and we were supposed to paint a piece of candy corn on our page, too. :)
That's my finished page from class below:
I tried a pine cone after I got home and you know, it wasn't so bad!
Then I tried a magnolia cone.
More watercolor play to come....