Ellen Roles Workshop:
Design and Color Choices

by Barb Parisien, photos by Nancy Larson

 

Ellen Roles, instructor for Northstar’s two-day March workshop, guided participants through several exciting design and color experiences. Roles’ approach to what she considers the “essence of watercolor” relies on a basic understanding of color-- warm and cool, transparent and opaque.  She teaches the basic principles of design and composition as passed on by such masters as Edgar Whitney.

 

Roles demonstrated her technique of layering color, working from transparent staining to opaque and granular.  This approach has won her a place in the prestigious Transparent Watercolor Society of America.   Her use of color, though technical and deliberate, is at the same time whimsical and fun.  She gets at the “glow” through a careful step-by-step process, placing complements next to each other.  “Most importantly,” she says, “is for you as an artist to look inside and find who you are.”  Good advice for all of us.