LESSON PLANS SPRING TERM 2024 (1st half). Lesson 2: Watercolour from the charcoal drawings.

In this lesson I'm asking my students to refer to the charcoal drawings they made in the last lesson to work through a watercolour in layers. This particular lesson is about creating smooth washes, looking very carefully for shape including in-between shapes, working patiently at each stage to think about what is painted and what is left un-painted - all good techniques for the use of watercolour!

Spring Term 1st half 2024 – Lesson 2. Translating the charcoal drawing into a watercolour painting.

·         Make up a very watery wash of a neutral colour (yellow ochre, raw umber etc.). Make up more than you’ll need.

·         Using the biggest brush available to you, carefully and slowly cover your paper in this wash but as you go, work your way around the shapes you drew in last week’s drawing. To do this you’ll need to envisage (use your mind’s eye!) what and where these shapes are.

·         Dry that wash with a hairdryer (in the hall kitchen) or wait for it to dry naturally while starting a 2nd painting in the same way – two paintings on the go!

·         When the wash is dry, add a different colour to the remains of your first wash. Remake a new wash right over the first was but re-negotiate any edges that you feel weren’t quit3e right first time round.

·         Do not worry about accumulating puddles of paint. Before this wash dries, use the puddles of paint to drag the paint off the background and onto the objects - to begin to find some of the detail of your objects.

·         Now dry this wash.

·         Onto the dry page – use any colours you like to find shadows around your objects and details on your objects.

·         Soften any hard edges that you don’t want by using clean water alongside those edges and letting the edge run into the clean water.

Next Lesson: Using oils, acrylics, pastels or a mix of media (collage, charcoal and white paint for instance?), we’re going to make one more study of the tiny still-life. Bring your chosen medium and your still-life or, if you prefer, a new still-life.