What the participants said:

What a good day we had yesterday.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and you have spurred me on to keep trying watercolours!  Thank you so much for everything.  I look forward already to the next time.

A most enjoyable day!  Thank you.

Thank you Helen. I had a lovely day.

Course Structure

We completed 3 projects we were tired but had a lot of fun

Project 1 – floral, wet in wet with salt and plastic food wrap

• draw 3 large flower shapes of different sizes 2/3 of the way up the paper (should touch the edges of the painting)
• use ultramarine and viridian in different amounts on the bottom (larger) section place food wrap on one section (don't use over the whole area)
• turn painting upsidedown and paint utramarine blue and alizerin (or madder) sprinkle on salt in definate areas (don't sprinkle all over - it's not pizza!)
• put aside & allow to dry naturally ( you can't use the hairdryer as the salt flies off!)

Project 2 - nude, wet in wet, glazes

• wet paper then dry areas you want to stay white with kitchen paper.
• drizzle, splash or throw on colour (we used madder and raw sienna)
• Allow to dry naturally or dry with hairdryer before applying the glaze
• cut out and draw around stencil with a water soluble crayon (we used a stylized copy of a Matisse nude)
• glaze the background of the nude (ultramarine and viridian) with broad free strokes and a very large brush you could add foliage if you wish
• you will notice the underlying washes will be darker but are still visible
• important to use transparent colours for glazes, wait for the painting to dry between washes and don't use more than 2 otherwise the washes will go muddy

Project 3 glass print, landscape

• Decide whether you want the horizon at 1/3 or 2/3 (i.e. a lot of sky or a lot of foreground)
• Paint your colours on a piece of glass (use lots of paint)
• take a piece of dry watercolour paper (300gsm) and place on top of the glass
• remove and imagine the desired landscape