Lessons
Day 1
1Class
1:11:27 2Q&A
35:31Day 2
3Basic Introduction
04:30 4Paint and Paint Properties
35:33 5Understanding Color
08:06 6Hue: The Color Wheel
14:16Mixing Colors
15:56 8Other Color Terms
17:07 9Light and Shadows
03:14 10Layering and Glazing
06:19 11Homework
07:47 12Q&A
08:15Day 3
13Watercolor Papers
23:36 14Paper Characteristics
34:12 15Watercolor Brushes
19:15 16Basic Brush Techniques
32:32 17Putting It All Together
09:28 18Q&A
07:08Day 4
19Drawing for Painting
1:03:45 20Proportion and Perspective
06:41 21Good Composition
29:16 22Last Class Preparation
05:40 23Q&A
09:10Day 5
24Introduction
06:29 25Creating Textures
19:45 26Other Fun Techniques
33:13 27Reserving Whites and Lifting
53:13 28Things to Remember
21:54Lesson Info
Introduction
So this is watercolor wanna one the fun stuff and of course I have to thank daniel smith one more time for their continued support of promotion of this class they were just fantastic they were tweeting they were posting on facebook and it's just been great and they provided all of the supplies for the in class participants, so I just couldn't be more grateful they've been fabulous okay, so this our five week course started out with weak one, which was an overview of watercolors in general all of the different things that make it such an exciting medium the challenges setting up your workspace supplies, references, artists, lengths things like that week number two was paints and color and that had to do with, uh just pigments and paint properties use it, figuring out how to use the color wheel, how to mix colors, color terms we talked about layering and glazing all the different kinds of things and skills that you need to know in watercolor. Week three was paper and brushes where we tal...
ked about the different kinds of paper surfaces there's so many different papers to use and there's so many different brushes and brushstrokes are actually what I think is one of the most distinguishing characteristics between artists and so we went over that a little bit various techniques how to get edges with your brushes week four was drawing in composition and I know I go through this every week, but there are some people who watch for the first time every week, and so I want them to understand what every week consists of this was all about styles of drawing. How to, uh, use a grid to transfer your drawing different rules for composition, uh, how to create visual throat flow throughout your painting. And this week is the fun stuff, and this is all of the techniques, all the fun techniques that you could do in water color that you can't do and most of the other mediums. I I don't know of the very techniques that you can do in pastels and there's, certainly some things that you could do in a krill, lex and I suppose there's some things in oils, but just because of the characteristic of watercolor and how it paints is a medium there's, some fabulous things you could do, and we're gonna go through all of those things today. Well, not all of them, but a good portion. Okay, so every week people post things on flicker dot com. And I just loved this color wheel. Isn't this fabulous? She did just a great job of getting your colors. I mean, some of them are just a little bit off, but her colors are so vibrant and pure, and I loved that she put everything outside and she didn't paint in the lines, and I just thought the whole thing was great. So I had to show that and then look at these isn't that, aren't they amazing. They're really, really amazing. This is christina t and I mean that ball in front and the moment, I mean, they're all just really, really wonderful. This is a hard exercise, and she did a great job. So then, in our drawing in composition class, we did the drawing of the little boy, and I didn't put him in color for anybody to paint because the weak the course, before people got so hung up on the color of the image that I had them draw. We put it in and black and white. And so this is what somebody did. And nash, this person posted this thing three times. She posted it in her various stages of painting. And this is the final painting. And I look at the expression on that little boy's face. I mean, she just did a great job. And then look at this. I know so so peaceful. Exactly the look that was in that little boy's face. This person, cambridge, kate captured that I thought this was magnificent. This is great. And you notice the various colors that people are choosing to paint everything in. I thought this was just wonderful. Again. The expression is there the emotion in the little boy? All of it is captured. This one terrific look at those eyes. Absolutely terrific again, it's. The feeling that they that they were able to capture in the eyes. This is magnificent. This one, I think I like this one better than I like my own actually tell you the truth. It's, beautiful and that's mine that's the one I ended up with. And I thought it was very interesting that we pretty much chose the same colors for the sweater and everything but I put a darker background in now if you take a look get thes to see how the darker background makes the little boy pop forward and I think the one on the left if she had just chosen to put something a little bit darker in the background she would have had the same kind of I love you but blue yes I never thought of that he has blue he has green he has purple he has bright red I'll give you a little hint see underneath the tip of his nose and to frasier's and underneath his chin you almost always put sort of red tents under those spots I've never known a teacher who painted portrait swell that didn't put a dab of red on a near lobe and a dab of red underneath the nose on dabba brand underneath the chin and it really does sort of it sort of confines the face and it makes every other skin tongue sort of pop so it's uh it's a good helpful little hint to remember okay so I'm a quote freak so here's my quote for this week learned technique have full command to the extent of not being conscious of how it's done when craftsmanship has been developed you are free to create technique will give way to expression and that is really I think that's I thought about this a lot. This is sergei bundgaard. I brought him up a lot of times. I I've thought about this a lot because I have really started out as a technique painter, and I learned to try to do my best to master that technics first. Now I'm starting to not pay attention to that. I'm starting to break out of that and get more creative in my approach to painting and it but it's, because I have the confidence of knowing that if I need to draw in a technique I can, because I practiced it enough all these years. That is allowing me the freedom to move forward into a more creative expression of myself as a painter.
Class Materials
bonus material with purchase
Ratings and Reviews
user-9ba4d8
I would also recommend this class with some hesitation. This course is a broad and sweeping overview of watercolor painting. It is a good reference course and I will probably be treated like a reference book for watercolors. The skills we covered were valuable. It was beneficial to hear about the watercolor artists that Molly enjoyed and to have a list. The exercises were appropriate. I would recommend this course to someone who likes to know all the details of things before getting started. If you are someone that wants to jump right in this may be frustrating. Obviously, I am the latter. A few suggestions from my perspective....limit the product pushing. The references to Daniel Smith were off putting. I will try to avoid purchasing their products at all costs even if they are the best. It was very difficult to get access to the paint colors that she wanted us to have as some of the names are slightly different than what is available to me locally. I have already taken a beginner color watercolor course which I loved!! If I had not taken that course I probably would have been lost here. In that course(also online) we finished a project for every 10 minute lesson. I learned the basic technique's and it was FUN! I wish this class had more projects to practice that can be completed by a beginner and intermediate. Portraits seem like a large undertaking and it would be helpful to build confidence with smaller and simpler projects. I just felt a little discouraged. Molly is very talented and the work she shared was very thoughtful and showed incredible skill! I am very thankful that she took the time to teach the class and share her knowledge.
a Creativelive Student
This course was fabulous. Molly is a great artist/teacher. Her instruction has really unleashed my creativity and given me confidence to create.
jennymak
Looks like a really fun class! I'll take it soon!
Student Work
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