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Spring Fling! Colorful Creations in Watercolor and Ink
w/ Susan Waite

Now an online workshop!

All Levels Welcome, Including Beginners!

Date/Time: Sunday / June 14 / 11am-5pm

Cost: $175

Registration: online.

Location: This will be an online class which can be seen through Zoom.us. A link to the Zoom meeting, along with instructions on how to use Zoom will be sent in an email before the workshop.

Paint at home with the flowers you love. This class is for watercolor newbies as well as painters who want to play splashy and loose.  

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Painting “from life”, with flowers that you can smell and touch, adds that special freshness to your paintings. You will need to have some flowers, cut blossoms in jars or plants in their pots awaiting planting. We will also touch upon painting clear glass - as in our vases and jars. Susan will also share photos of flowers for practicing exercises in common.

To get warmed up, we will see how varied brush strokes can do your work for you. Blind contour sharpie drawings with wet-into-wet washes on top will make way for painting directly without initial pencil drawings. We will use watercolor with fresh direct brushstrokes and ink embellishments to bring our spring flowers and produce to life.  Experiment making beautiful watercolor washes that can be given form with ink, or left to shine unadorned.  This is a good class to let yourself try new approaches and go with the flow! 

Supply List:

A note on art supplies - we realize it can be hard to find supplies right now. If you can’t find the supplies listed below, just use what you have or can find. We’ll all be flexible. If you can, we recommend checking your local art supply store, since many of them are in need of customers, and often have the supplies that The Big Stores are out of. If you are in Edmonds, ARTspot offers 10% off to Cole Studio students, and they are providing curb-side service until stores can fully open.

Paper - lots of good watercolor papers!

  • Susan likes to have a pile of smaller papers (such as 1 or 2 22x30” Arches 140lb cold press, ripped into eighth sheets of 5 1/2” x 7 1/2”)

  • A pad or tablet of 9x12 Arches, Fabriano, or Winsor Newton 140 lb cold press paper is good too. It is nice to have extra paper with which to test colors and ink effects.

  • Make sure you get ARTIST GRADE 140 lb paper- not student grade. This is a good opportunity to use up different papers you may have on hand, such as trying out hot press.

Brushes: 

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  • Assorted flat (1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inch wide) 

  • Round watercolor brushes (one smaller, like size 4, and one fatter round , like size 12-16)

  • One hake brush, 1 1/2 - 2 inch wide, found with Sumi supplies.

  • Optional: Sumi brush if you have one - but not necessary. 

Susan’s favorite 4-5 brushes below (just fyi, not required):

  • Silver Black Velvet 1” flat wash brush (# 3014S)

  • Silver Black Velvet #16 round (#3000S), both carried at ARTspot

  • A smaller round brush, about #4-8

  • Hake brush - 1 1/2 wide

  • Maybe a rigger or liner

Bamboo drawing pen (see note below)
 - small size (should be under $10) 
OR
twigs or reeds 

Inks, either one of these two options (see note below):

  • Black (non-gloss) small sumi ink bottle (water soluble)

    OR

  •  Black small India ink bottle (permanent)

Note: You don’t want to use your good watercolor brushes in any of these inks

Paints: Bring your favorites if you have them - it’s a good chance to use up those exotic hues.

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Susan’s palette includes:
One warm and One cool color of each primary, such as:

  • Cool Reds – one of these: Alizarin crimson, or Quinacridone or Permanent Rose

  • Warm Reds – one of these: Cadmium Red light or medium, or Quinacridone or Permanent Red light, or Vermillion or Pyrrol Scarlet

  • Cool Blues - one of these: Cobalt, or Winsor or Phthalo Blue (Green shade), or Manganese, or Prussian Blue

  • Warm Blues - Ultramarine

  • Cool Yellows - one of these: Lemon, or Cadmium Yellow light, or Aureolin

  • Warm Yellows - one of these: Cadmium yellow medium, or New Gamboge, or Indian Yellow

    And:

  • Phthalo (or Winsor) Green – yellow shade

  • Quinacridone Burnt Orange or Burnt Sienna

  • Orange - either Cadmium orange or Permanent Orange or Pyrrol Orange

Miscellaneous: 

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  • Watercolor palette, covered. The John Pike palette is good, or equivalent

  • Support board

  • Water container (quart size—not small ones).

  • Paper towels or rags

  • Tape - white artist tape can be reused.

  • Any seasonal  inspiring flowers, preferably in colors that will work with the paint colors you have. Also clear jars and/or vases for flowers, and /or little garden starts in nursery containers.

  • You could also try other ideas such as artichokes, asparagus, garlic, onions, fruit, sea shells, little rocks…. Use your imagination - our materials lend themselves to painting all kinds of subjects.