Watercolor Without Fear!

Wednesday Mornings 10am – 12pm

October 19th, October 26th, November 2nd, and November 9th, 2022

Instructor: Bridget Eileen Grady

This workshop will get you jump-started in the medium of watercolor. Learn to go with the flow and learn control at the same time with this slippery medium.

Who’s this Class For?

The total “I can’t draw a straight line” beginner.

Persons with a creative curiosity looking for a fun and meditative outlet to explore.

Artists who want to play with a new medium or loosen up.

You will explore the use of watercolor as a drawing and painting medium. Learn basic techniques of creating washes, bleeds, and color mixing. Wet into wet, Dry-brush, and Gouache techniques will be explained and the properties of the paper will be discussed.

Materials List

Watercolor is a medium that can be very inexpensive to work in successfully if chosen well in the beginning. It also is a medium where each artist decides what their personal preferences are over time. I recommend starting with a fairly good quality student paint and decent quality paper for avoiding frustration while you are learning. That investment will last a very long time.

Paint

Transparent Watercolors

You can choose either paint pans or tube watercolors for this course.

I recommend Sakura Koi Watercolor sets or tubes, and/or Windsor Newton Cotman line for a quality less expensive paint.

If you are buying individual pans or tubes, please bring the following colors to the first class.

Cadmium red medium, Alizarin Crimson, Magenta, Cobalt Violet, Ultramarine Blue, Thalo Blue, Cadmium yellow medium, Yellow Ochre, Permanent Green Light, Sap Green, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna

Brushes

Synthetic Watercolor brushes    3 Round Size 2,4,8, and 2 flat  ½” and 1” size

Princeton makes an inexpensive series in sets, just make sure they are specifically for watercolor.

(I actually use student-quality brushes from Sax, Sax Golden Synthetic Taklon). Individually purchased they are inexpensive and last a very long time.

Paper

Paper is a very personal choice and is often based on what the objective of the art piece is.

I will have other papers for students to try while in class.

For this class, I recommend The Strathmore 400 Series 140 lb Watercolor Paper Pads Cold Press Paper Tape bound and 1 of the size pads below.

9”x 12”, 12” 12”, or 11” x14”

Palette

Plastic Palette, White Ceramic Dish, or Butcher Tray.

Other Needs

Pencil, eraser, Sketch paper, Water cups, paper towels.

Instructor Bio

Ms. Grady Obtained her M.F.A. in Painting at Western Connecticut State University.Previous to that she pursued graduate studies at Norwich University in Montpelier, Vermont. Additionally, she has studied classical methodology at Grand Central Atelier under Jacob Collins, Camie Davis, and Scott Waddell. Formerly Ms. Grady was an Assistant Professor of Art and Art coordinator at the School of Art, Design, and Media, at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore where she was awarded the Teaching Excellence Award. She was invited by the Singapore Ministry of Education to participate in their curriculum development committee during her time at A.D.M. She has been an adjunct professor of Painting since 2015 at Northwestern Community College and is currently the Education Coordinator at Five Points Arts Center.