Description

Do you ever feel confused when working on your art, especially when using the unpredictable watercolour medium? Know different techniques but struggle to use them in the right places? Want to paint more complex pictures, but not sure how to simplify what you see? Uncertainly on how to form a value study to lay the foundation for a successful composition? This course will help you tackle these challenges.

The course structure is based on key techniques and focuses on dealing with some difficulties through painting the local scenery including seascape, landscape, urban and countryside views. Whether you are looking to improve your ability to choose a scene, capture natural light and colours in your studio work, or enhance your natural and urban compositions, you'll receive valuable guidance and achieve better results in your artwork.

This class is suitable for watercolourists with some experience.

Course Outline

WEEK 1: Mastering Natural Sky and Clouds

Subject: Seascape & Landscape

Focus on: Develop your brushwork skills to create various cloud textures and patterns. Experiment with different techniques, such as wet-on-wet, blending, and layering, to achieve the desired effects.

WEEK 2: Painting the Believable Water

Subject: Seascape & Lake View

Focus on: Explore techniques for depicting both shallow and deep waters, as well as the transparency of clear waters versus the opacity of murky depths. Master the complexities of reflections and refractions on water.

WEEK 3: Capturing the Charm of Boats

Subject: Seascape & Lake View

Focus on: Select the right colours and mixing techniques to accurately depict boats and their surroundings. Using value studies from the outset to identify the large shapes in a scene.

WEEK 4: Capturing the Beauty of the Natural World

Subject: Landscape

Focus on: Capturing positive and negative shapes in the natural world. Fluid ways to express the nature of trees and vegetation.

WEEK 5: Creating Depth and Atmospheric Perspective

Subject: Landscape

Focus on: Understanding depth and perspective in watercolour. Using graded washes to convey distance and emphasis on depth.

WEEK 6: Urban Scene Painting

Subject: Heritage Building

Focus on: Principles of composition in watercolour. Rule of thirds, focal points, and leading lines. Improving composition in your work.

WEEK 7: Urban Scene Painting

Subject: Heritage Building

Focus on: Look at ways to compose, simplify, and edit the built environment in dynamic ways. Examine the narrative power of unusual perspective angles.

WEEK 8: Advanced Seascape Painting

Subject: Harbour Scene

Focus on: Explore the various elements that constitute a harbour scene, from boats and ships to piers, docks, and waterfront structures. Learn how to expertly compose a harbour scene, considering balance, focal points, and storytelling elements.

WEEK 9: Advanced Landscape Painting

Subject: Countryside view

Focus on: Simplifying shapes and consider what to leave in and what to take out of the scene. Conveying the feeling of the place you are painting using value, colour, & technique.

WEEK 10: Advanced Urban Scene Painting

Subject: City view

Focus on: Analyzing and manipulating a reference image to make design choices. Using lines and vanishing points to maintain perspective and proportions. Simplifying complex shapes to create striking compositions.

WEEK 11: Personal Projects

Choose a subject that showcases your newfound skills to create a final painting.

Displaying your artwork from the course.

Open discussion and sharing of experiences.

Celebration of progress and accomplishments.

Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to experiment, develop their style, and gain confidence in their intermediate watercolour skills. Homework assignments and practice exercises will complement in-class instruction to reinforce learning and skills development.