Want to get started watercolor painting? Here are the first three steps for any beginner.
"Connie and Grace," a 2022 watercolor by Gatzke, Minnesota artist Debbie Aune.
Courtesy of Debbie Aune
Did you take art in school? If you were lucky enough to have a teacher who unearthed the creativity that’s inside all of us, it may have given you a boost of self esteem. Perhaps it even helped you to foster a lifelong love of art. Debbie Aune understands how to tap into creativity. She’s a K-12 art teacher at the Greenbush Middle River School District in Northwestern Minnesota. She’s also a watercolor painter.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: Say, I have a question for you. Did you take art in school? If you were lucky to have had a teacher who unearthed the creativity we all have, even those little projects that involve glue, markers, paints, or clay, it maybe gave you a little boost of self-esteem. Perhaps the class fostered a lifelong love of art.
Debbie Owney understands how to tap into creativity. She's a K-12 art teacher in the Greenbush Middle River School District in Northwestern Minnesota. She's also an artist who transforms photos and her passion for nature, cityscapes, and rural life into watercolors and she is on the line. Debbie, welcome to Minnesota Now.
SUBJECT: Thank you.
CATHY WURZER: I understand nature and the rural life play a pretty large role in your art. Where'd you grow up?
SUBJECT: I grew up right here. I grew up 7 miles down the road. My address has been Gatzke my whole life.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, for goodness sakes. Now, for folks who don't know Gatzke, that is a pretty small place.
SUBJECT: Oh yeah. It's between Thief River Falls and Roselle.
CATHY WURZER: Did you grow up on a farm?
SUBJECT: Yes, I did.
CATHY WURZER: Are you still on a farm?
SUBJECT: We're still on a farm. We rent it out. But it was a working farm. And I still live here and I just traveled to school every day.
CATHY WURZER: I want to go back a little bit to the earlier part of your experiences with art. I was on your website. Your grandma had those, and I loved them, I just thought they were so much fun, the paint by numbers.
SUBJECT: Yes. Isn't that cool?
CATHY WURZER: I know. Yeah, so much fun.
SUBJECT: Yeah, that's the type of painting she did. And then I got her leftover oil paint. And who knew what a canvas was back then? I just painted on the cardboard, what the thing came in. And I think I still have that very first painting.
It's dull, and dark, and muddy. But it's fun to look back at.
CATHY WURZER: I did the same thing. And all my paint by numbers were all about horses. Every single one of them.
SUBJECT: You too?
CATHY WURZER: Oh yes. Of course.
SUBJECT: Yes, yes, yes.
CATHY WURZER: Did you also-- gosh, I had a friend in fourth grade who, it was in the back of comic books, ads for the art instruction schools in Minneapolis? Remember those?
SUBJECT: Yes. I got to enroll in it. I was 17. And it was expensive. And that was kind of a big deal. I don't remember what it cost, but it was a correspondence through the mail. And I did it for two years and I still have all my lessons.
It was so funny-- I'm not sure if I took it as serious as I should have because I got some pretty poor grades, but the school really emphasized drawing from either drawing or photo that they sent you. And you had to copy it exactly the way they did it.
And I would kind of mess around with it and thought I was funny, I suppose. And they didn't think it was so funny. But you get kind of bored by copying things. So I think that's why I went to VSU. That's why I went to college when I was 17, because I kind of enjoyed the drawing and I always had been doing some drawing, but it was fun to get some instruction from somebody else-- and some feedback.
CATHY WURZER: So you graduated from Bemidji with a degree in art education. How did you land on watercolors as your medium? I've only done watercolors a few times, can't stand it. It's just me-- the control freak in me just cannot stand putting a little bit of color on a piece of paper and having it run all over the heck.
SUBJECT: I always like what it did, though. Watercolor does its own thing on paper. But I like the surprises that it gives me, the different kind of paper I have, the different kind of tilt I have to the board. And the paints just do a lot of work on their own. And I love, love, love that part-- just the spontaneous see what happens.
It's kind of you'll get gifts once in a while and you'll have explosions once in a while, but it's fun. I like that fact that you come back the next day and the painting does look different, because it's dried, and it's bloomed, and did its thing. But I think watercolor just is so friendly in school. For teaching, it's my favorite thing to teach.
CATHY WURZER: Well, you're very well-known in Northwestern Minnesota, especially for your imagery of farm life, and machinery, and small towns. Why does all that fascinate you visually?
SUBJECT: I'm amongst it. I'm with it. I love it. I guess there's stories with all of it. Every painting I believe I've ever done that I've liked, there's a story that goes with it.
And if your brain is anything like mine, it's always chattering around. And it's talking all the time. And there's a story with the paintings-- with the elevator paintings, with traveling in the green truck to town with my dad, and combining. I combined in high school. I combined in college.
I combined when we got married. So it's fun to paint machinery and equipment. And right now the Blueberry series I just had in Thief River Falls included people in most of them most of them. And that's been my latest challenge to myself to include people, which I find difficult.
CATHY WURZER: We should say you've had a show at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls, something called Nature's Offerings. Did you feel any pressure to put on that show?
SUBJECT: Not from anyone else. I just kind of put myself, give myself challenges. I work better under pressure. So that's kind of a common trait, I think. So I set a date. I made a commitment, gave myself a year. And then I painted, and painted, and painted. It was the framing that was the most challenging.
CATHY WURZER: In the introduction, of course, I mentioned that you're an art. Teacher and I think, especially kids, certainly adults, say, I'm not creative. I can't draw a straight line. I can't. I can't. I won't. Well, what do you find might be a good technique to get an adult out of their head and onto the canvas or paper, what have you?
SUBJECT: They're the tough ones, for sure. Because I hear that line, I can't draw a stick man. And oh my gosh. I could teach anybody to paint. I know I could, because I have this seven really simple seven-step approach to doing a watercolor painting outside.
And I use it on my kids at school. And they eat it up. I could teach them to paint. I know I could. They just have to pretend that they're 10 again, I guess, and just let them self have a little bit of fun.
CATHY WURZER: You got me intrigued now. Seven steps. I'm not going to ask you to do all seven steps, but give me the first two at least.
SUBJECT: Establish your horizon line. Number two, kill your paper. And all that means is that white paper is so white, and bare, and scary, so we splash some paint on there. If it's a warm day, we splash a ocher on there. If it's a cool day, we splash some gray on there.
CATHY WURZER: OK.
SUBJECT: The third step, I'll throw that at you just so you go home and try it-- just make some shapes. If there's a house out there, it's probably a triangle and a square. And if there's a tree out there, well, that'll be an organic shape. But just get some shapes in and know that you can do it. It can be done.
CATHY WURZER: I believe you. I believe you. You're a teacher. I get it. We wanted to check in with you because we've heard a lot about you in Northwestern Minnesota. So I'm really appreciative of your time.
SUBJECT: Thank you. This was fun.
CATHY WURZER: Debbie Owney is a water colorist and art teacher from Gatzke, Minnesota. That's in the Northwestern corner of the state. And this is a new segment where we'll check in with Minnesota artists from time to time to ask about their background in art, their process, and what they're working on.
So if you've got suggestions, send them our way. Minnesotanow@npr.org. And thank you for listening to the program. I hope you have a good rest of the day.
Debbie Owney understands how to tap into creativity. She's a K-12 art teacher in the Greenbush Middle River School District in Northwestern Minnesota. She's also an artist who transforms photos and her passion for nature, cityscapes, and rural life into watercolors and she is on the line. Debbie, welcome to Minnesota Now.
SUBJECT: Thank you.
CATHY WURZER: I understand nature and the rural life play a pretty large role in your art. Where'd you grow up?
SUBJECT: I grew up right here. I grew up 7 miles down the road. My address has been Gatzke my whole life.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, for goodness sakes. Now, for folks who don't know Gatzke, that is a pretty small place.
SUBJECT: Oh yeah. It's between Thief River Falls and Roselle.
CATHY WURZER: Did you grow up on a farm?
SUBJECT: Yes, I did.
CATHY WURZER: Are you still on a farm?
SUBJECT: We're still on a farm. We rent it out. But it was a working farm. And I still live here and I just traveled to school every day.
CATHY WURZER: I want to go back a little bit to the earlier part of your experiences with art. I was on your website. Your grandma had those, and I loved them, I just thought they were so much fun, the paint by numbers.
SUBJECT: Yes. Isn't that cool?
CATHY WURZER: I know. Yeah, so much fun.
SUBJECT: Yeah, that's the type of painting she did. And then I got her leftover oil paint. And who knew what a canvas was back then? I just painted on the cardboard, what the thing came in. And I think I still have that very first painting.
It's dull, and dark, and muddy. But it's fun to look back at.
CATHY WURZER: I did the same thing. And all my paint by numbers were all about horses. Every single one of them.
SUBJECT: You too?
CATHY WURZER: Oh yes. Of course.
SUBJECT: Yes, yes, yes.
CATHY WURZER: Did you also-- gosh, I had a friend in fourth grade who, it was in the back of comic books, ads for the art instruction schools in Minneapolis? Remember those?
SUBJECT: Yes. I got to enroll in it. I was 17. And it was expensive. And that was kind of a big deal. I don't remember what it cost, but it was a correspondence through the mail. And I did it for two years and I still have all my lessons.
It was so funny-- I'm not sure if I took it as serious as I should have because I got some pretty poor grades, but the school really emphasized drawing from either drawing or photo that they sent you. And you had to copy it exactly the way they did it.
And I would kind of mess around with it and thought I was funny, I suppose. And they didn't think it was so funny. But you get kind of bored by copying things. So I think that's why I went to VSU. That's why I went to college when I was 17, because I kind of enjoyed the drawing and I always had been doing some drawing, but it was fun to get some instruction from somebody else-- and some feedback.
CATHY WURZER: So you graduated from Bemidji with a degree in art education. How did you land on watercolors as your medium? I've only done watercolors a few times, can't stand it. It's just me-- the control freak in me just cannot stand putting a little bit of color on a piece of paper and having it run all over the heck.
SUBJECT: I always like what it did, though. Watercolor does its own thing on paper. But I like the surprises that it gives me, the different kind of paper I have, the different kind of tilt I have to the board. And the paints just do a lot of work on their own. And I love, love, love that part-- just the spontaneous see what happens.
It's kind of you'll get gifts once in a while and you'll have explosions once in a while, but it's fun. I like that fact that you come back the next day and the painting does look different, because it's dried, and it's bloomed, and did its thing. But I think watercolor just is so friendly in school. For teaching, it's my favorite thing to teach.
CATHY WURZER: Well, you're very well-known in Northwestern Minnesota, especially for your imagery of farm life, and machinery, and small towns. Why does all that fascinate you visually?
SUBJECT: I'm amongst it. I'm with it. I love it. I guess there's stories with all of it. Every painting I believe I've ever done that I've liked, there's a story that goes with it.
And if your brain is anything like mine, it's always chattering around. And it's talking all the time. And there's a story with the paintings-- with the elevator paintings, with traveling in the green truck to town with my dad, and combining. I combined in high school. I combined in college.
I combined when we got married. So it's fun to paint machinery and equipment. And right now the Blueberry series I just had in Thief River Falls included people in most of them most of them. And that's been my latest challenge to myself to include people, which I find difficult.
CATHY WURZER: We should say you've had a show at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls, something called Nature's Offerings. Did you feel any pressure to put on that show?
SUBJECT: Not from anyone else. I just kind of put myself, give myself challenges. I work better under pressure. So that's kind of a common trait, I think. So I set a date. I made a commitment, gave myself a year. And then I painted, and painted, and painted. It was the framing that was the most challenging.
CATHY WURZER: In the introduction, of course, I mentioned that you're an art. Teacher and I think, especially kids, certainly adults, say, I'm not creative. I can't draw a straight line. I can't. I can't. I won't. Well, what do you find might be a good technique to get an adult out of their head and onto the canvas or paper, what have you?
SUBJECT: They're the tough ones, for sure. Because I hear that line, I can't draw a stick man. And oh my gosh. I could teach anybody to paint. I know I could, because I have this seven really simple seven-step approach to doing a watercolor painting outside.
And I use it on my kids at school. And they eat it up. I could teach them to paint. I know I could. They just have to pretend that they're 10 again, I guess, and just let them self have a little bit of fun.
CATHY WURZER: You got me intrigued now. Seven steps. I'm not going to ask you to do all seven steps, but give me the first two at least.
SUBJECT: Establish your horizon line. Number two, kill your paper. And all that means is that white paper is so white, and bare, and scary, so we splash some paint on there. If it's a warm day, we splash a ocher on there. If it's a cool day, we splash some gray on there.
CATHY WURZER: OK.
SUBJECT: The third step, I'll throw that at you just so you go home and try it-- just make some shapes. If there's a house out there, it's probably a triangle and a square. And if there's a tree out there, well, that'll be an organic shape. But just get some shapes in and know that you can do it. It can be done.
CATHY WURZER: I believe you. I believe you. You're a teacher. I get it. We wanted to check in with you because we've heard a lot about you in Northwestern Minnesota. So I'm really appreciative of your time.
SUBJECT: Thank you. This was fun.
CATHY WURZER: Debbie Owney is a water colorist and art teacher from Gatzke, Minnesota. That's in the Northwestern corner of the state. And this is a new segment where we'll check in with Minnesota artists from time to time to ask about their background in art, their process, and what they're working on.
So if you've got suggestions, send them our way. Minnesotanow@npr.org. And thank you for listening to the program. I hope you have a good rest of the day.
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