Betsey MacDonald: Watercolors from Your Photos - 5 Week Watercolor class (Intermediate-Advanced)

Class Description: While drawing and painting from life is a very important skill to develop, sometimes a reference photo is a necessary tool. A wiggly child, swimming dog, racing horse or perfectly lit landscape is not something an artist can capture in seconds. Instead, using a reference photo allows the artist to capture the information required and to create the convincing imagery desired. Using photos or pinhole cameras is an age old process and that’s what we’ll do in this class. However, the original photo should have been taken by the artist themselves which insures the vision belonged to the artist from the beginning. We’ll discuss the quality of the photos and what should be eliminated or changed for a better composition. We’ll transfer photos freehand or using a grid then use watercolor to create our paintings.

We will not be attempting to produce photorealism but rather remain in control of the decision making process to create original content. We’ll learn about color mixing, using washes, layering and other watercolor techniques.

Course Objectives

• Acquire skills with a variety of watercolor painting techniques
• Learn about clean color mixing and layering
• Become comfortable with watercolor experimentation
• Develop an appreciation of watercolor accidents and how they can be useful
• Creatively paint from our own photos
• Observe, critique and discuss student work and master watercolors
• Transfer photos to paper freehand or using a grid
• Beware of the pitfalls of relying on a photo
• Determine which photos may be a useful reference

Materials student will need to provide: watercolor set(an inexpensive tray is fine but a set of tubes with palette is great, too), variety of brushes, masking fluid, watercolor block or pad(at least 140 lb, 8 x 10, 12 x 16, 16 x 20 or a few sheets with a gator foam board for stapling or some other support or 300 lb paper which doesn’t need mounting , hot or cold press or even rough can work, jar or two for water, spray bottle, sponge or two, #2 pencil or mechanical pencil, paper towel. Several printed 8 x 10 photos taken by the student

Materials provided by instructor: I will bring my own supplies to share for experimenting

Betsey MacDonald Bio