Something about watercolour
For me, there’s something about watercolour: something at once subtle and tangible that holds a special place in my art. Tiny plein-air studies on lightweight paper and towering full sheet sumo pieces equally grab my attention.
I love that a watercolour is in the paper and not just sitting on it. Water flows and is adsorbed, pigment burrows in, playing hide and seek with light. The art cannot be separated from the paper. My eye imagines the layers filtering and trapping the pigment, getting increasingly subtle as the water penetrates the layers – all the while creating effects unimagined. I ask myself “where did they come from? Is the natural flow purely random or is there some unseen force or will at work?” My mind climbs back to the surface, squeezing through the matrix of fibers “Ah! Finally daylight again.” A brief respite and then a new, glistening wash takes my breath away.
Much as I use other mediums such as oil, acrylic, pastel, each for their purpose, watercolour is different. It allows a re-centering, a recall of what inspired me to become an artist in the first place, the magic. Perhaps something like this can be true for all of us. What a special place in an artist’s world a medium can have!
New Spring Courses and Workshops
Our plans for the spring have recently changed and we are pleased to be able to expand the range of upcoming course and workshop options, in-studio and on-line, as follows:
ON-LINE – P26Z018A – Drawing and Watercolour : With Colour and Expression – Tuesdays, 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
ON-LINE – P26Z011A – Acrylic and Oil – With Colour and Expression – Tuesdays, 1:00 PM – 03:30 PM
Downtown – P26D011D – Paint in Acrylic and Oil – Wednesdays, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Downtown – P26D013C – Expressive Portraits and Figures – Wednesdays, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Orléans Weekend Workshop – P26SWS12 – Impressionism and the Energy of Colour – Saturday May 2 & Sunday May 3
Orléans Weekend Workshop – P26SWS13 – The Magic of Mixed Media – Saturday May 30 & Sunday May 31
All courses are now available on the Ottawa School of Art’s new booking system.
Your one stop shop for direct links to each of the school’s course details/booking pages is on our website at: https://www.davidkearn.com/workshops/
Art for Pira
The OSA community is coming together to support Giuliano “Pira” Pirani. Over 60 artists have donated 87 artworks, and all proceeds will go directly to help Pira. The works are on display and for sale at the OSA ByWard campus from March 29 – April 7, OSA Lobby – ByWard campus.
and in the wider world of art:
Thieves steal Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse works in 3-minute Italian museum raid: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/renoir-cezanne-matisse-italian-private-museum-theft-9.7146943
Striking 2,000-year-old mummy portrait sells for $889,000: https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/31/style/fayum-mummy-portrait-sothebys-masters-week
The ‘unmasking’ of Banksy and Ferrante: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/20/the-guardian-view-on-anonymity-in-art-the-unmasking-of-banksy-and-ferrante-should-stop?
Ireland’s basic income for artists (like that idea!): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/13/ireland-basic-income-artist-scheme-pilot?
“I think that one’s art is a growth inside one. I do not think one can explain growth. It is silent and subtle.” Emily Carr
Break-a-Brush!
David & France