Techniques as a foundation builds artistic confidence

As an elementary and middle school art teacher, this art-making research has implications for my teaching. I have learned much more about watercolor painting techniques, which can be passed on to my students. I have found that my increased learning of the artistic process can also be carried over into the classroom. I have explored watercolor painting, which was an unfamiliar medium to me a couple of years ago. I selected ten paintings that show my development in watercolor painting as I learned the techniques and became more comfortable with the medium. My subject matter reflects specific places in Sylva, Bryson City, and the Western Carolina University campus that I found personally beautiful or interesting. I will discuss the processes of choosing the subject matter and of designing the compositions. I will describe my process of painting the images in watercolor. My influences from art history and the artistic guidance from my professors are explained in this thesis as well. After discussing the ten artworks, I will reflect on the possible future directions for my painting. While working on this body of work, I have discovered the value in finding beauty in the places that I live and work in. I would like to seek ways to help my young art students see beautiful or interesting imagery in their environments as a possible source for artistic expression. Above all, I have found that an artist needs a foundation in techniques to build confidence and lead to successful art-making. While learning techniques and experimenting with watercolor, I gained the confidence to continue using this medium throughout my graduate studio classes. I will reflect on ways that I can help my students and future students learn techniques as a foundation for building their artistic confidence.