Introduction to Watercolours

Colour and mood

At the beginning, we’ll be introduced to colour theory. To kick things off, we are going to get to know our paints and warm up by creating a colour wheel and playful swatches. In this part of the workshop you will discover hues and combinations you love. On each strip of watercolour paper we are going to play with primary colours: 1. Using harmonious colours (i.e. an analogous colour scheme with colours that sit next to each other on the colour wheel). 2. Using contrasting colours (i.e. colours that sit opposite on the colour wheel and when mixed together create delicious neutrals). 3. Varying the quantity of water you add to your paint to see how this affects the value (i.e. the lightness or darkness of your paint). 4. Laying down swatches with a defined edge vs. a soft, blended edge. 5. Keeping notes of your colours for future reference.

Brush and pressure

Alongside playing with primary colours, we are going to focus on our tools: in particular, our brushes. Using just one paint colour, we are going to see how we can use our brushes in different ways to make a wide variety of marks. This is the time to really explore what your brushes can do and use your imagination to see what you can come up with. We will adjust the pressure, the angle and the amount of paint we load onto the brush and so on. I will also explain the concepts of wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry. These two core techniques provide very different results, and understanding what they can do will help you enormously as you continue your journey with watercolour.