Beginners Watercolour
Watercolour / Beginners / Landscape - Materials included
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An ideal first step to watercolour painting. Discover the essential techniques of this luminous and rewarding medium. Build confidence through demonstrations, theory and practice, using different papers, tools and approaches.
This course covers the basics of this rewarding and beautiful medium. Learn the essential techniques to get you started and understand your materials. Through demonstrations, theory and practice you will develop the solid foundation you need to enjoy this medium and keep building confidence. A springboard for enjoying this medium to the full and an ideal first step to watercolour painting.
With a mix of studio based learning as well as working outside weather permitting, you will move from theory into practice over the three days. With expert tuition on hand this course will ensure you have the insights you need to get the basics right. From there you can take this medium into many exciting directions.
Day to day plan
Day 1
After an introduction to the course, Hilary will introduce you to different weights of paper and explain the importance of understanding these in watercolour. You’ll then learn to prepare and stretch paper for use in your watercolour painting later on. You’ll practice graduating washes and learn about layering watercolour for depth, using examples. Depending on the weather, you’ll then go out to make monochromatic studies of the coast around St Ives, taking colour notes to refer to back in the studio.
Day 2
Today you’ll focus on colour theory and how to mix the right tones. Using colour wheels you’ll develop your understanding of intensity, complementary colours and warm and cool tones. You’ll then explore the properties and possibilities of watercolour and apply these techniques in your own painting in the afternoon.
Day 3
Working with a limited palette, you’ll paint en plein air in one of St Ives’ sheltered coves. Throughout the day you’ll experiment with different sizes and orientations and then work on developing the strengths of your pieces, possibly into a series.
Taught by
What will I learn?
- Experiment with different papers, learn how to select the right brushes for the job and how best to use them.
- Understand how tone is key and an understanding of colour
- Learn how to approach working outside
- Move from theory into practice
What to Bring
Our studios are fully equipped and we provide you with all the materials you need for your course. However, if you have a favourite set of brushes or any specialist materials that you would prefer to use, please bring them with you.
Timings and Breaks
The first day starts at 10am and finishes at 4.30pm, please aim to arrive ten to fifteen minutes before the start time.
All course days after that start at 9.30am and finish at 4pm and there will be an hour for lunch. There are plenty of nearby places to eat and we will serve tea and coffee at break times during the day.
What our students say
As a beginner it gave me the necessary knowledge and techniques to enable me to develop my skills using this medium.
Hilary was a great teacher and took care and time to make sure everyone was understanding. The outside air painting taught me a lot and was very good even in cold and rainy November! The course gave me a great start in understanding watercolours and the confidence to now explore on my own.
A thoroughly enjoyable weekend. A small and friendly class group, knowledgeable and encouraging tutor, lovely learning environment, and nice people working at the school.
Our tutor Hilary was wonderful. The course outline was exactly what was delivered. I felt I’d been carefully taken through some basic knowledge and skills, so that I was able to approach more challenging tasks. I felt pushed beyond my comfort zone to just the right degree! Very inspired now to practice and build on what I learnt.
FAQs
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