Painting class aims to connect left and right brain to create art

A whole new view on watercolors is coming to Albert Lea through an unconventional class.

Diane Hill will be teaching Your Brain in Watercolors through Albert Lea Community Education, a class that combines both sides of the brain to create a piece of art.

Your Brain in Watercolors will have two sessions with two classes each — 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday and Feb. 12 or 6 to 8 p.m. on March 16 and 23 at the Care Cafe at Brookside Education Center.

Hill, a self-taught watercolor artist, said the left and right brain have different tasks. However, her class has students navigate between both the analytical left brain and creative right brain, something that Hill said is an exercise to improve brain strength.

For example, Hill’s class will have students paint an initial. She said the left side of the brain will tell the student how to draw the initial, and the right side will put a creative twist on the ordinary letter.

This class isn’t a new idea for Hill, however. She has taught a class similar to this several times before and she said past students have been surprised, encouraged and engaged.

No watercolor experience is needed to take the class, Hill said, and students who were new to the art were surprised that watercolor was easier than they thought, even if it didn’t quite match the vision they had in their heads.

“They actually had a product in the end,” she said.

Students who have watercolor skills can also take Hill’s class, she said. She divides her time between helping skilled students get better and unskilled students learn the basics.

Hill said she has seen a mix of both skilled and unskilled students and hasn’t had an issue with her class and what she teaches.

Even though Hill hopes to engage the left brain in her class, her aim is for students to have fun; she doesn’t want the art to become laborious, she said.

Hill, an Albert Lea native, got her start in watercolor around 1989 when she would paint 1 inch by 1 inch canvases. She also used watercolor crayons because she was too timid to buy brushes and paint.

From that, Hill started to make watercolor broaches. She began selling the jewelry at Von Maur in Des Moines, and she was met with an enthusiastic response.

For anyone who may be too timid to join the class, Hill suggested inviting a friend and sitting by them to help alleviate some nerves. She also said to buy a children’s watercolor book at the library to learn some basics, something she said she did when she was first starting out.

Your Brain in Watercolors is offered through Community Education and costs $20. Visit albertleacommunityed.registryinsight.com to register online or Albert Lea High School to register in person.