Beach Inspired, Loose and Experimental Watercolour with beach stones technique

This 2 week watercolour project will start with a demonstration of a lovely technique to create stones and pebbles in watercolour, using cling film. You will complete part 1 of this project so it can be fully dry in order to work on it during week 2. 

We will also be working on large sheets of watercolour paper, creating bold, flowing marks and using plenty of water. We will then work back into these using watercolour paint with palette knives, along with numerous other techniques. You will need a small water spray bottle, an old tooth brush, a dipping pen (if you have one) as well as your usual watercolour kit. 

The aim is not to make a formulated painting, but to create an abstract piece using beach inspired colours and marks. When our pieces are dry, we will use view finders / mount board sections to locate numerous smaller compositions within the sheet, which work as individual pieces.

Elephant Skin Close Ups - Acrylic Painting - 2 Week Project

Using your own image, or one provided, we will explore different techniques to illustrate the textures of the elephant’s skin. You will need acrylic paper (A3 size approx) or a canvas sheet or board, acrylic paints and brushes. You will also need some willow charcoal. 

For anyone who is interested in this, but does not have either the materials or confidence, to tackle this project, rest assured, I can help you out with both! I can give you paints and brushes to use during the class, and we will be approaching the project step by step with clear instructions on how to best to succeed! 

In week one, we will be looking at techniques and gaining an understanding of the materials and how we will be using them for this project. We will paint our initial layers and draw out our elephant in detail, before starting to paint in to our work. Week two will be a continuation of the project, giving plenty of time to get it finished. 

Seal - in Watercolour 

You can complete a figurative painting of a seal if you like, in a traditional style, or you can create something a bit more loose and abstracted. We will be looking at ways to illustrate the textures and patterns of the seal’s skin, by using salt, masking fluid, blotting out, splattering and experimenting with watercolour layering techniques. 

You will need watercolour paper and your usual watercolour kit.

‘The Penguin Lessons’ - Medium of your choice

We will be creating a drawing or painting based on the film ‘The Penguin Lessons’.

You could do a pencil drawing, a watercolour painting, soft chalk pastels, collage, multi media or any other medium you wish. 

If you haven't seen the film, I can highly recommend it! Here are some pics to get you thinking…. Obviously bring a suitable surface and materials to suit your requirements. 

Combining Oil Pastels and Watercolour to create a harmonious mixed media painting

We will be experimenting with combinging oil pastels and watercolours to explore ways to describe various textured surfaces, like stone, walls etc, as well as trees and foliage. I will be using this photo from the King Harry Ferry as my inspiration, but feel free to bring your own image if you prefer. Bring either a printed copy or your image on an electronic device, which you can work from. 

You will also need textured watercolour paper, pencil, eraser, ruler, watercolour paints and brushes, oil pastels, palette knife, masking tape, some spare paper for experimentation. 

I will bring plenty of cocktail sticks, wooden skewers and  cotton buds for sgraffito techniques and blending of our oil pastels. I will also have masking fluid and salt on hand for the watercolour elements of our work. 

No Lesson 

Stone Balancing Sculpture

Painting with charcoal and graphite powder

Create a beautiful painting of beach stones balanced on top of each other. Photograph your own sculpture on the beach, or bring stones with you to class. I will be bringing a selection. During the first part of the lesson we will be experimenting with techniques using charcoal and graphite powder with water and various acrylic fluid binders. I will supply enough acrylic medium binder for the class. If you have coloured or tinted Derwent XL graphite or charcoal sticks, we can use powder from these, which would give us lovely ochres and reds which you often find in beach stones, along with the black, grey, whites. We will also be using various techniques with masking fluid, salt and palette knives. I will provide masking fluid and salt. This is sure to be a fun, experimental class! Please bring old brushes to use, and watercolour or heavy cartridge paper. Do NOT use your best watercolour brushes! I can provide a selection of brushes for the class if necessary. Fixative or hairspray would also be advisable to bring.

Abandoned Boats

Watercolour

Your subject could be an old rowing boat left on the shore or a decaying ship waiting to be transported away to be broken up. If you are able to, it would be good to think about this in advance and perhaps go out and about taking pictures of potential subject matter. We have so much to choose from here! Think of rust and peeling paint…. Think about your composition - you don’t need to have a whole boat in your image, but could just hone in on one section.

You will use various watercolour techniques, including salt (large and small grain) and masking fluid to create interesting textures. If you like, you can use a palette knife to apply and scratch back into your watercolour. You can create a figurative painting, an abstract piece or anything in between.

Anatomy of a Wave 

Acrylics and / or drawing materials of your choice

We will look at the anatomy of a wave and break it down into its various stages. Starting with preliminary sketches, you will create a painting in either a figurative or a more impressionistic abstracted style. Either paint on plain paper, or paint on a map, which I can provide. We can also encapsulate some sand into our painting, using Acrylic Matt Medium and sand, which I can also provide. If you would prefer not to use acrylics, you can use any medium of your choice to create your wave. This class is predominantly about understanding the structure of a wave and then deciding on how you would like to interpret it. 

Foreshortening the Figure - Drawing 

Graphite or charcoal 

Understand the principles of foreshortening and perspectives of the human figure. 

From a photo of a life model in a foreshortened pose, you will complete various exercises and  be shown various tips and tricks, then you will produce an accurate drawing of the model. We will be checking our proportions by making a simple grid. The object of the lesson is to produce a drawing as accurate as possible and to gain confidence in realistically portraying a challenging viewpoint of the human figure.  

Drawing Hands and Feet

Graphite, pencils & usual drawing kit

2 week project - 5th Feb Hands, 12th Feb Feet.

Hands and feet are notoriously challenging to draw. Through a detailed look at bone structure and mechanics you will learn to simplify and demystify this artistic conundrum!

Including: Drawing exercises, breaking down into shapes, proportions of the hand, mechanics and movement, simplify, gain confidence in adding hands and feet to a life drawing, instead of secretly hoping that the feet go off the end of the page! Complete a detailed final drawing each week.