Watercolor Primer for All

Watercolor Primer for All

Adult Class | Registration opens 2/3/2026 10:00 AM MST

200 Grant St Denver, CO 80203 United States
108
All
5/2/2026-5/30/2026
View Schedule
$222.00
$188.70

Watercolor Primer for All

Adult Class | Registration opens 2/3/2026 10:00 AM MST

With wit and whimsy, as well as a passionate knowledge of the history of watercolor painting, Timothy J. Standring will hold your attention during this three-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.
You’ll experiment with cold and hot press papers, natural and artificial brushes, different brands of watercolor pigments 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.

This class will be conducted at the ASLD as well as on-site locations through the Denver Metropolitan area.

  • Art supplies mentioned below can be purchased at Meininger’s or Guiry’s locations in Denver, or online at Amazon, Buick’s, or Jerry’s Artarama.
    Watercolor pad/block (Recommended: 9 x 12 inches, Arches or Saunders Waterford, cold press, 9 x 12 inches).
    Sketchbook recommendations: Pocket Landscape 5.5 x 3.5 inches from Handbook Journal Co., distributed by Speedball Art Products.
    Watercolor pigment recommendations: Windsor Newton professional series, AVOID Cotman student pigments): Cobalt Turquoise, Cobalt Blue, French Ultramarine, Windsor Violet, Sap Green, Phthalo Yellow Green (Daniel Smith), Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red, Cadmium Orange, Burnt Sienna (DS), Burnt Umber (DS), Raw Umber (DS), Yellow Ochre, Transparent Yellow Ochre (Schmincke [Horadam, no. 657]), Lemon Yellow, Lavender {Holbein] Ivory Black, and Chinese White
    Watercolor brushes: Recommended: Fuumuui Professional Watercolor brushes [https://www.amazon.com/Watercolor-Fuumuui-Professional-Squirrel-Extended/dp/B0DR7S5KRD?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1]
    Two containers for water (Sea to Summit brand collapsible from REI is terrific).
    Watercolor palette—the flat rectangular box for mixing colors (Recommended: Air tight 20 well, 5 x 10.75 Palatte. There are many to select from on Amazon, Blick’s, or Jerry’s Artarama); or a Holbein enameled palette [more expensive]). A broad porcelain white dinner plate found at a thrift store will do as well. If you buy the plastic palette, wash off the surface with a plastic sponge and soapy warm water before putting pigment into the small boxes. We can do this on the first day of class.
    ½ inch artist masking tape
    2 oz pump spray bottle
    Roll of soft paper towels [Viva is recommended]
    Equipment for open air painting: recommended for lightweight painting easels with tripods at www.enpleinairpro.com. You can position your easel to paint standing up or siting down. Less weight is better.
    Enthusiasm, curiosity, courage to mess up your palette, and questions!
Standring, Timothy
Timothy Standring

Timothy James Standring, Curator Emeritus, Denver Art Museum:

Though small in scale, Timothy James Standring’s oils and watercolors pierce the assumed poetics both media aspire to express. Over the past decade, Standring has brought a gimlet-eyed attention to a painterly parity of close observation and delight in his material. Deft material sensitivity and technique, both traditional and radical, register in the recurring themes he paints. Just as they resonate with Standring’s influences in a line of artists extending from Edgar Degas and John Singer Sargent to Joaquìn Sorolla and Andrew Wyeth. 
His recent watercolor works reflect a preference for painting with the pigment-loaded sable belly instead of the brush’s tight point which results, surprisingly, in marks and images reminiscent of dry brush oils on unprepared paper. Such heavily pigmented watercolors enliven the poetic statements his compositions sustain. Similarly, his plein air oil sketches betray watercolor techniques. Indeed, these paradoxes of approach underscore Standring’s radical authenticity in both media. Standring conveys in his meditative observation of intimate scenes and settings a challenge to the fickle attributes that watercolor and oils encompass.  
Standring’s works are held in numerous private collections across North American and Europe. On three occasions his works have been included in the prestigious 10 x 10 x 10 juried exhibition in Tieton, Washington. In 2022, 2023, and 2024 Standring participated in the Coors Western Art Exhibition. One of his monographic exhibitions was reviewed by the national critic Ray Rainaldi in the Denver Post; another was cited in Fine Art Connoisseur.

A sensitive and voluble teacher, Standring conducts watercolor painting workshops at the Art Students League of Denver in June, as well as the Lunenburg School of the Arts, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in September.  His legacy as an artist and scholar has influenced generations of artists. Many around the nation—and indeed—the world are indebted to his generous mentorship.