Diana Toma GWS Workshop Oct 2026

I recently attended a 3 day workshop offered as part of the 2026 Georgia Watercolor Society's Members Show held at OCAF.

Diana Toma was be the Judge of the show, and instructor of the 3 day workshop.  She also had an exhibition of her own on display at OCAF: Watercolors versus Acrylics, which places a painting in each media of a similar subject side by side, asking the viewer to compare.  Diana is known for her expressive watercolor and acrylic paintings, and her exhibit showcased her talent in both media.

In the morning of the first day we worked on using light and dark paint to provide shape and depth.  We used a photo of red roses for our inspiration and a large round brush (mop).  Starting by putting down  red petals.  Darkening each flower's center and shadows. Lifting some areas to provide highlights.  Finally, using a flat brush to add swipes of greens for the background leaves.  The large strokes of color give the painting a spontaneous feeling which I liked.

In the afternoon we painted small bouquet of flowers. This looked like a tipical still life. Not my best flower painting, but it did give me the opportunity to work with more colors from the Paul Rubens Watercolor Paint Set of 24 half pans of Vivid Colors Water Colors I purchased for the workshop. For this workshops I used the same paints as the instructor.  You can see the paint set in the photo on the left above.

           

Day two we played with an experimental technique that was new to me and so much fun.  It required: plastic wrap, dish soap and a straw.   First the watercolor paper was taped down to a water proof board.  Next a piece of plastic wrap the same size as the paper was placed next to the paper.  Several splatters of different colors were put on the plastic wrap.  A few drops of dish soap was added to a small cup of water.  We used a straw to blow bubbles, letting them overflow onto the watercolor paper creating a mound in the center.  The plastic wrap was carefully placed on top ot the bubbles, pressing down the edges to the paper (photo below left).  The paint slowly migrates around the bubbles to the paper creating a unique bubble pattern.  When the bubbles have popped, the plastic wrap is removed and the paper is left to dry (photo below right).  

I did a second bubble paper using a limited palette of brown, orange and blues.  Once dry, the paper was used as a background tor a painting of a rocky beach with a starfish (photo on the left).  I shaded the larger bubbles to look like rocks, and added a starfish.  I could have added shells, fish or waves to the bubble painting (photo on the right).  This technique can be used to create rocks for a waterfall, a path or just an interesting background.

 

Day three we worked on portraits.  In the morning we did quick 2, 5 and 10 minute loose watercolor sketches of the same photo (photo on the left below).  We spent the rest of the morning finishing one of our sketches.  I finished my 5 min sketch (photo on the right below).

In the afternoon we worked on a second portrait (on the left below).  We dd a rouch pencil sketch, marking divisions of shapes and highlights.  Then painted working from large loose areas to small precise areas.  I don't paint portraits, but I rather liked how this one turned out (on the right below).  

 

  

Costa Rican Great Green Macaw watercolor

 Costa Rico is a beautiful country, with tropical coasts, misty forests, volcanos and spectacular wildlife.  In 2024 I want on an Audubon birding trip to Costa Rico and was saw an amazing variety of birds.  One particular photo from that trip stood out  as one that needed to be painted.  A Great Green Macaw (Ara ambiguus), that was pertched in the opening of a very large tree.  

Two years later, I finally painted the Macaw.  To the left is the rough draft I used to work out the overall design of the painting and color pallate:

I used Yellow, Red, Blue, Black to make the various shades of grey-green, grey-yellow bark, dark interior of the hole, and the vivid colors of the Macaw.  

Below is the finished painting.  It is almost twice as large, and tightly cropped to emphasize the bird in the hollow.  

 

Winter watercolors

After the recent workshops on perspective and snow, I began work on a painting of a house in the snow.  The reference photo is an extreme angle, but I really like it.  The roof and door of the house are dark green.  The leaves on the trees are also dark green.  The sides of the house are tan-yellow, and the wood of the picket fence is a weathered gray-brown.  However the dominant color is the white of the snow storm.

In my test painting I started by masking everything that was a shade of white, and added some random aplatter for the falling snow.  When the masking was dry, I painted the pale purple-blue sky, the green roof of the house and leaves, the tan-yellow of the house.  When the paint had dried, I removed the masking, and painted in shadows and did some touchup work. 

I used a pallet similar to the one I used for the Georgia Watercolor Society Aug 2025 workshop with Iain Stewart:  

• Undersea green
• Phalo blue turquoise
• Colbalt turquoise
• Verditer blue
• Lavender
• Cadmium Scarlet
• Naples yellow
• Burnt Siena
• Panes Gray

Working with perspective

In a recent workshop with Leigh Ellis we reviewed the artist rules of perspective that is used to make objects look three dimensional on a two dimensional piece of paper.  It also conveys scale and realism to a painting. 

This is done using: converging lines, vanishing points, color intensity and shifting, edge definition, shadows and highlights.  

For example, the converging lines in this sketch meet at the vanishing point on the right edge of the paper.  They were used to define the height of three people walking toward the vanishing point.  

   

The same converging lines and vanishing point were used for the watercolor, below along with the other tools mentioned above.  

• The light from above is brighter around the closest person, making both the highlights and shadows around them stronger. 
• The closest red umbrella is brighter, while the others are paler and shift to a red-blue.
• The edges of the closest person where light and dark meet are distinct, but they are less distinct on the further people.

In some cases additional vanishing points are needed to define your view.  For instance a house on a corner would need two vanishing points.  Shadows from the sun or clouds overhead would need additional vanishing points.   

Additional 2025 watercolors from workshops

Here are a few other watercolors from workshops with Leigh Ellis.  In each workshop we worked from photos.  I did not take the photos, and the paintings are not replicas of the reference photos.  

Snow!

We worked on a winter scene of a forest with a stream in the snow.

• First a light sketch of the stream and surrounding trees.
• Then a splattering of masking for snow
• Add light wash for the sky and background trees
• Paint the dark foreground trees and their shadows on the snow banks
• Darkening the background trees and add shadows to the snow banks
• Painting the reflecting light on the stream and the shadows of the banks
• Darkening edges of the banks, rocks and trees         
• Create additional depth with shadows and highlights
• After the painting is completely dry, remove the masking 

        

Birds in winter and summer

Because we are so familiar with birds, getting many details correct is important:

• Size and shape of the head, body, tail and wings.
• Color of key characteristics that identify the species.
• Realistic body positioning when perching or flying.
• Correct habitat can also be important.

Birds are very round, and the illusion of roundness on a flat piece of paper is created by creating shadows and highlights.

The colors in the shadows can be cool or warm

• Cool colored shadows (bue-purple) indicate a winter day
• Warm colored shadows (brown-purle) indicate a warm summer day

GWS workshop with Iian Stewart

On Aug 16-18 2023,  I attended a three day watercolor workshop, hosted by the Georgia Watercolor Society at the Thomasville Center for the Arts.   The workshop “Painting Land, Sea and Sky” was lead by Iain Stewart, a sought after watercolor instructor.  

Iian is an avid sketcher, and he asked us to bring a sketch book to the workshop.  We used the sketch to make pencil sketches, take notes on design ideas, and paint studies and vignettes.  This is how every painting we did started.

A list of the watercolors Iian uses was suggested for the workshop.  I normally use just 10 colors, and mix what I need from these.  But I was interested in seeing how Iian would use these other colors, and this was my opportunity to try them: Cadmium Scarlet, Naples yellow, Undersea green, Cobalt turquoise, Phthalo blue turquoise, Verditer blue, and Lavender.  

Iian helped us improve our sketching and painting ability. I learned new techniques and was reminded of techniques I learned long ago but forget to use.  

Tomasville is a lovely historic Georgia city.  The downtown has several nice local shops, restaurants and drinking establishments.  While walking around we looked for the lost quail and one of the oldest live oak trees.  We enjoyed tasting some unique drinks at 1861distillery , had a wonderful meal at Chop House on the Bricks and took home some amazing chocolates from sweet cacao chocolates.  

2025 watercolor workshops with Leigh Ellis

I have taken several watercolor workshops with Leigh Ellis through the years.  I love her paintings.  They glow with light and energy.  So when I heard she had weekly small group workshops I quickly signed up.

The first workshop we worked on painting light.  We did two still paintings one of white flowers and the other of a hay field in the sun.    

The flowers were white on a dark background.  To retain the white of the flowers we masked them, then painted the background.

  

Once the background was dry, the masking was removed and we painted the branches as flower shadows.

The Hay field was painted in several steps.  First the barn and highlights of sun were masked.  Then a double wash of blue sky and yellow field were layed down on the paper.  Then the tree line at the fare end of the field and the grasses along the front are painted in.  

Below, you can see the painting with masking (pale blue on the barn and hay bales), the washes of blue sky and yellow field, pale green trees in the background and grasses in the foreground.

I did some color testing to determine how I would handle the barn and trees.  

I used quinacridone gold orange and rose; along with mixed greens from cobalt and phalo blue.  

I find testing the color combinations and mixes before adding them to the painting is an important step.  

                                    Below is the finished painting

Travel paintings of Scotland 2024

 We had a great wildlife tour with St. Hilda Sea Adventures.  We spent 10 days on the Speideren, a 75 ft Norwegian Rescue boat in the Outer Hebrides.  We stopped at 12 different Islands during the trip seeing beautiful scenery and wildlife. 

We boarded the ship in Oban, then traveled through Loch Melfort to our first stop Rum to walk at the Nature Reserve, then on to Canna where we anchored off shore.  Next stop was the Outer Hebrides.  We hiked to a remote beaches of Vatersay, stopped at the harbor of Castlebay on the Isle of Barra, then Lochboisdale on South Uist and Lochmaddy on North Uist where we hiked out to Loch nam Maddaah to see a Camara Obscura and had a day tour out to the small Island of Berneray.  Next we sailed to the Shiant Isles, three rocky  islands in the Northern Minch, that are nesting grounds for thousands marine birds (puffins, guillemots, razorbills, shags and great skuas).  Then we were off to East Tarbert on Isle of Harris and a stop at the local distillery.  On our way back we stopped at the Isle of Sky to hike up to Loch Coruisk, and Isle Eigg for a walk, and Lochdon on the Isle of Mull to tour Duart Castle.

We stayed a few extra days to tour the Isles of Mull and Iona.

We were very busy so I only had time to make quick sketches and take reference photos.  I finished the watercolors after we returned home. 

Oban harbor at night

Kinloch Castle on Rum in process

Vatersay bay, Outer Hebrides in process

Abstraction through Design workshop

I participated in a three day abstract watercolor workshop lead by John Salminen

I am not an abstract painter, but over the course of the workshop I discovered that thinking about what makes an abstract painting is interesting can help make more interesting paintings.  Without a defined subject it is the elements of the painting that make it interesting.  The play of colors, dark against light, warm against cold, lines against shapes.

We went through a process of creating a very busy line drawing of random shapes. 

Then we used the lines to help us create a painting with a three armed white object, more or less in the center of the paper, bounded by color.  

The next step was to add some black shapes to define some contracting edges.  Then additional warm and cold colors were added to create interest and movement.  Once I started painting it became easier to add more colors to the painting.

The final shapes we added were cut from magazines and applied to the painting using matte media.  The resulting paintings were very interesting.  This was the hardest part for me.  It took a long time to find items to use and to decide where to add them.  I'm still not sure it is done.

Little bound story book

I purchased a stuffed Ossabaw Sicilian donkey for my nephew.  He is quite a Winnie the Pooh fan, so I decided to also get him a stuffed Eeyore, and to make a little book about the two of them meeting.  

After roughing out a story,  I had an idea of how many illustrations were needed.  I started working on sketches,   Over time, a rough story and illustrations slowly converged into what could be a little story book.  

It would have 8 pages.  I would need 10 illustrations: front cover, front page, 6 for the story, back page and back cover; and the text needed to fit in the available space of the 6 story pages.

I used watercolor paper for the 4 signatures (8 pages) of the book.  The illustrations were inked and painted.  Then text was added to the pages.  Finally I sealed the pages with a non-toxic watercolor sealant.  Finally I was ready to put together the little story book.  

 Punching the covers

Last page and inside of back cover

Bound book

Tropical watercolor journal entries

I had the opportunity to spend some time on a boat sailing around the British Virgin Islands.  It is a beautiful place, filled with brightly colored towns, white sand beaches, wonderful people, and tropical sunrises and sunsets.  I made a few watercolor sketches of places we visited.

Anegada beach

The Baths        

Trellis bay        

Ossabaw beaches, turtles and donkeys

 We spent a few days on Ossabaw Island learning about their Turtle program and the island's ecology.  This is the largest barrier island on the Georgia coast.  It has thousands of acres of salt marsh, fresh and salt marshes, and several miles of undeveloped beach.  The island was designated as a heritage preserve in 1978, by Governor George Busbee.  

There are several buildings on the north end of Ossabaw Island.  The Boarding house and Club house are used for visiting groups.  The historic tabby houses built in the early 1800's which have been carefully restored.  This is also where the small herd of Sicilian donkeys are often seen.

Five species of sea turtles are found in the waters off Georgia’s coast, but only one, the loggerhead sea turtle regularly nest on Georgia barrier islands.  Turtle researchers spend most of their time cruising the beach looking for turtle tracks made by adult females coming ashore to nest, and hatchlings scampering across the beach to the ocean.  They work from sundown to sunrise.  Early one morning we met one of the researchers on South end beach and were able to watch two recovered hatchlings head out to sea.  This beach has a extensive Ghost forrest of hauntingly beautiful trees.

There are extensive salt marshes along the western side of the island.  I used these photos as references for a watercolor in my field notebook.