With wit and whimsy, filled with a passionate knowledge of the history of watercolor painting, Dr. Standring will hold your attention during this five-day workshop in which you’ll cover all the basics. Fundamentally, you’ll learn with hands-on exercises that watercolor techniques are closely aligned with paper surfaces, brushes, and even the pigments themselves. All of these have interesting properties that lend to the final painting. Students will be painting in the studio & offsite at places such as duck pond in City Park or Red Rocks in Morrison, CO. Students are encouraged to exchange contact info during the first class and arrange to carpool.
You’ll experiment with cold and hot press papers, natural and artificial brushes, different brands of watercolor pigments, learn how to stretch paper, and set up your portable kit for painting on site while traveling for pleasure or for work. And most of all, you’ll learn how to discern what constitutes a true watercolor painting.
Recommended readings:
Marjorie B. Cohn (with Rachel Rosenfield). Wash and Gouache: A Study of the Development of the Materials of Watercolor. Cambridge: Harvard, 1977.
Kathleen A. Foster. American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2017.
Jane Jones. Classic Still Life Painting: A Contemporary Master Shows How to Achieve Old Master Effects Using Today’s Art Materials. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2004. [Although this addresses still life using oils, there is much to gain from discussions on color theory, composition strategies, and lighting.]
Mark Kurlansky. Paper. New York & London: W.W. Norton, 2016.
Gordon MacKenzie. The Complete Watercolorist’s Essential Notebook. Cincinnati: North Light Books, 2006.
Gordon MacKenzie. The Watercolorist’s Essential Notebook. Cincinnati: North Light Books, 2006.
Nicola Moorby and Ian Warrell, edited (with artists Mike Chaplin and Tony Smibert). How to Paint like Turner. London: Tate Publishing, 2010.
Gavin Pretor-Pinney. The Cloud Collector’s Handbook. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2011.
Charles Reid. Watercolor Basics: Learn to Solve the Most Common Painting Problems. New York: North Light Books, 2019.
Tony Smibert. Turner’s Apprentice: A Watercolor Masterclass. London: Thames & Hudson, 2020.
Tony Smibert and Joyce H. Townsend. Tate Watercolour Manual: Lessons from the Great Masters. London: Tate Publishing, 2014.
Timothy Standring. "Watercolor Landscape Sketching during the Popular Picturesque Era in Britain," in Glorious Nature: British Landscape Painting, 1750 - 1850, (Hudson Hills Press, 1993), pp. 73-84.
Michael Wilcox. The Wilcox Guide to the Best Watercolor Paints. London: Colour School Publications, 1995.