Introduction

This Documentary Project required us to portray an intriguing person, group, place, idea, or issue. We researched our topics using databases and then gathered information by interviewing 3 people who would act as our primary sources for discussing our topic. I chose to create a magazine that would portray my subject. In our Design class, we laid out the pages of our magazine using Adobe InDesign. In English class we wrote the text for the magazine that would combine all of our ideas and research on the topic in narrative-style journalism.

My topic discussed how Watercolor in the artistic industry is often seen as immature and isn’t regarded as important as things like oil and acrylic paints. Watercolor takes many years to learn to control and it requires a lot of patience and skill. I interviewed Kaaren Marquez and Taryn Curiel who are members of the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society as well as Susan Marinchak who is a designer and has an interest in watercolor and is a painting hobbyist.

MAGAZINE

The magazine assignment required us to use what we researched as a basis for information when interviewing our subjects. We wrote about people or an organization in this article and incorporated our research. I wanted to talk about how watercolor is often viewed because I am interested in art and I’m getting more into painting. I thought it was interesting how there is an entire medium that some art professors think lowly of. I’ve always thought of artists as being people who are very open minded, and seeing something that disproved that was a bit shocking. I wanted to understand how watercolor can help people and what its strengths are. This Project helped me learn how to take an idea I have and apply it to the real world and real people's lives. I learned how to formulate interview questions and discuss my ideas with people I wasn’t very familiar with. We then used InDesign and Photoshop to layout and design the magazine and its elements. I chose to keep my design simple and clean.

  • easel in Kaarens Studio
  • in Kaarens Studio
  • in Kaarens Studio
  • in Kaarens Studio
  • in Kaarens Studio
  • in Kaarens Studio
  • in Kaarens Studio
  • in Kaarens Studio
  • Karrens watercolor palette
  • Karrens watercolor palette
  • Karrens watercolor palette
  • watercolor swatches
  • Kaarens Painting
  • Kaarens Painting
  • Kaarens Sketchbooks and preliminaries
  • Kaarens dog Baxter
  • Kaaren and her dog Baxter
  • Kaarens dog Baxter
  • in Taryns studio
  • Taryns preliminaries/sketches
  • in Taryns studio
  • Taryn working in her studio
  • plants outside of Taryns studio
  • sculpture outside of Taryns studio
  • sculpture outside of Taryns studio
  • car outside of Taryns studio
  • restaurant outside of Taryns studio
  • sculpture outside of Taryns studio
  • sculpture outside of Taryns studio
BIOS CONTENT
Name of person 1
Kaaren Marquez

Marquez is a watercolor artist who is a part of the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society and often participates in plein air paint groups. She paints mostly vibrant realistic landscapes, scenes in nature, and still lifes. Watercolor allows her to evoke story and mood in her works.

Name of person 2
Taryn Curiel

Curiel is a member of the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society and member of the California Watercolor Association. Curiel works as a watercolor artist and her main source of inspiration comes from people. She primarily paints human figures in muted colors with geometric shapes overtop to obscure the image and create structure.

Name of person 3
Susan Marinchak

Susan