K a y S e a l e
Thursday - April 3, 2025 10:00 - 2:00
​​​"Painting a Wild Watercolor"​
Demonstration and Workshop
O v e r v i e w
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I love to paint eyes! In selecting a subject matter for this demonstration, I began sifting through reference photos of all kinds of domesticated and wild creatures …
finally settling on a lion for our Wild Watercolor!
I can’t begin a demo without painting a few eyes; if they aren’t right, then I might as well quit painting! So that is where we will begin. I’ll do a fairly large eye of the lion I’ll use in smaller size for the rest of the demo. You can watch or paint with me. After painting the eyes I’ll proceed to the full painting and hope to finish most of that by lunchtime.
I’m happy to help with yours after that.
The reasons I chose this lion were due to its simplicity and broad application for other animals – the tilt of the head, intensity of its eyes, smoothness of the nose, skin folds on its back, fluff of the ears, hard and soft edges, and a limited color palette. But this is just a starting point. You can definitely go tame … or wild … with any colors you choose!
Materials List:
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Bring your regular watercolor supplies you are comfortable working with. (What I will be using is italicized in the descriptions to follow)
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Watercolor Paper: Bits and pieces for practicing eyes … or the back side of an ‘under-the-bed’ painting. (I mostly use Arches 140# blocks in rough or cold press … but I also use 300# paper and I occasionally stretch watercolor paper from rolls over stretcher bars for larger, unframed works of art)
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Watercolor paper sketched or transferred and ready to paint: I’ve included a pdf of an 8x10 color photo plus an 8x10 black and white high contrast photo. I would suggest painting this size or no larger than 11x14 for this short class.
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Watercolor Paints: Bring paints you normally use. (My palette highlights a triad of quinac burnt orange, French ultramarine blue, quinac permanent rose [DaVinci] … along with yellow ochre, Payne’s gray, indigo, opera, orange chromium, quinac violet, veridian, Titanium White).
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Brushes: Assortment you normally use plus a large flat for washes (I always have 1 ½ - 2” flat brushes handy, some angled flats and a nice pointed round size 12).
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Printed reference photo: Bring the supplied reference photo. Enlarged detailed areas help me, but you know what works for you (see pdf for more information)
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Masking Fluid: For saving whites in pupils, whiskers, etc. You don’t need a lot; if you have none, find a friend who will share.
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The Usual: Pencils, palette, water containers, paper towels, table-top easel if you use them, spray misting bottles, masking fluid eraser, tape, etc.
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Other Options: Watercolor pencils, crayons, and sticks (won’t be used in demo). Salt (creates texture around noses or in some fur). (I will bring some to share)
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Kay Seale - Biography
​Kay Seale’s Graphic Design degree enabled her to have a rewarding art career long before computers offered design programs with templates. This experience made her strong in layout, design, value and color; creating ‘fine art’ became intuitive. Her passion for life … anything that breathes … is a trademark of her work as seen through Kay’s illustrations of people, animals and landscapes. Travels across the USA and to Africa,
Europe, Central & South America provide many resources.
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Kay has become established as an award-winning watercolor artist (including the first Western Federation of Watercolor Societies Award won by an Idaho artist). She has won Best of Show Awards and has received ‘Reject’ notices, too! Kay has been the enviable recipient of the Idaho Western Fair Purchase Award four times! She has taught workshops on painting eyes, and how to use Photoshop to help with layouts of paintings. In 2023 Kay researched, wrote, created and led an Art Camp to complement her
church’s purchased VBS (Vacation Bible Study) Sport’s Camp Program.
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As a 2014 cancer survivor, having a vision-robbing meningioma removed in 2018,
and living with MS daily ... the exercising of her brain that creating
art requires has preserved both mind and talent.
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Kay Seale’s art is collected corporately and privately in many states. She is a Distinguished Merit Member of the Idaho Watercolor Society (IWS) and is a
Merit Member of the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies (WFWS).
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In 2020 Kay moved to Graham, Washington, to be near family and enjoy life with her husband and their two rescued canine companions. Missing the camaraderie she had with her painting friends in Idaho, Kay is pleased to have been ‘found’ by Celene while exhibiting at the 2023 Washington State Fair. She joined the South Hill Artists group in June and is excited to share her expertise and paint alongside this group of talented and fun creatives!
Kay Seale - Artist's Creative Statement
“A good subject matter, plus confident use of color, value, design and shape should invite a viewer to ‘step into’ the painting. Once in, I hope they desire to touch, feel, smell or wonder why …. If the painting elicits a response, that equates to success! I paint very realistically, yet aim to allow paint and water to collide spontaneously on paper and do their thing scientifically … granulating, resisting and blending.
I enjoy incorporating both loose areas and others that are tightly controlled.
What do I hunger to paint? Anything that lives and breathes! Even if I am painting old relics in a field my goal is to paint them as if they were alive. ‘I begin a painting with the eyes; if they aren’t right … if they aren’t full of life and light … nothing can save it!’ From personal experience, I know this talent is a gift from God. I never want to take credit for creating paintings that move people, but I give credit right back to the Creator …
who moves me … to create, and paint!’
Demo Location
The First Presbyterian Church of Puyallup
412 West Pioneer Puyallup, WA 98371
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