Choffrut-Lunch in Prague. This painting is a contest winner and published in “The World of Watercolor,” international watercolor magazine, 2021.
CMW’s next monthly membership meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 9, 2022, 6:00 pm at the Paramount Visual Arts Center (lower level). Interested watercolor artists are always welcome to attend any one meeting prior to joining our group.
We will open with a brief meeting and then White Bear Lake artist Pat Choffurt will present a demo of watercolor paintings that include people in the composition. This is what Pat has to say about her work:
“Paint the emotion; the technical will find its way as you go.”
Painting opened a door to a new self-expression for me. It’s a great big bonus that continues to give me a thrill, difficult as it can be at times.
Beauty has many forms. The human body interests me. I have been studying face and figure drawing and painting for a number of years, and I just know that it’s where I belong as an artist. What interests me in a subject is the story that it tells. Feeling, emotion, the soul: not an easy thing to see and then to render visually.
I am trying to push paint around to make connections—for me, that would be continually working the whole painting, not separate bits of it—making both hard and soft edges to define and connect. I like painting wet, starting light, painting across the pencil lines, then gradually building with medium to darker values. I try to keep my pigment application to one or two layers when I can, looking for freshness in the colors. All this is to say that in the end, the painting is telling me what to do, and who knows where that will go. I break my own rules to find the path that reveals the story! So, I guess it’s a bumpy ride.
I have studied and painted watercolor for 20 years. My work has been featured and awarded prizes in local, national, and international exhibitions. I have exhibited paintings in local/statewide galleries, and I maintain an Etsy boutique, where I sell original paintings and giclée prints. I have participated in many art fairs and art sales. I belong to several Twin City watercolor societies. I do commission paintings, mostly portraits.
There is so much to learn from this elusive flowing thing called watercolor.
Below are five examples of her work:
Choffrut-Paris Cafe
Choffrut-Lunch at the Prague Cafe copy
Choffrut-Marian in the Apple Orchard copy
Choffrut-A Stroll in Bonnieux copy
Choffrut-Alma Cafe