ABOUT THIS COURSE

Have you ever painted in watercolour and been thoroughly discouraged by the challenges of the medium; garish colours; runs, stains; hard edges; blooms; ruin by over-work; paper doing its own thing; mixing issues, etc? If yes, then a course, like this may suit you.

I begin with the basics - the paper you paint on, securing it for that purpose, mixing paints, applying them - that is wet on the dry page, and wet in the wet mark, with the correct brush. The course also includes, flat wash techniques, glazing techniques, as well as tonal studies, along with demonstrations and class discussions on finished examples will be included in every session.

The core purpose of the course is to break down mountains of non-belief and build up ramparts of self-belief. 

If you’re confident in your basic understanding of Watercolour Painting and would like to progress with a focus on LANDSCAPE, see Neil’s follow on course HERE. Or, if you would rather focus your watercolour painting & drawing skill based on Bontanics & Nature please see YANNY PETTERS - WATERCOLOUR PAINTING COURSE

Materials needed

EQUIPMENT LIST

The equipment list set out below can be had from Kennedy’s and K&M Evans. On line with Art Supplies Cork and Jacksons UK can supply also.

The brushes, paints and palette are essential for the course, as stated below, but, if you are new to the practice of watercolour, and are starting off for the first time, you, understandably, may not want to outlay for all the paint as stated. We can supply squeezes of all paint colours, and palette.

If you are familiar to the practice of watercolour you may have some or all of the equipment, but wish to top up with those paints you don’t have.

BRUSHES:

(1) A HAKE 20MM or 40MM ( about €8 )
(2) A ROUND SYNTHETIC MIX, SIZE 2, Softaqua PETIT-GRIS IMITATION SQUIRREL by Raphael 805 (about €25 can be supplied by me as below)

PAPER:

A HEAVEY WEIGHT SHEET, 640 GM, WILL ELIMINATE BUCKLING AND THE NEED TO STRETCH. WE WILL CUT DOWN THE SHEET INTO USEABLE SIZES. Definitely bring one sheet on day one. You can supplement as the course progresses. Arches or Fabriano or equivalent.

Palette:

PLASTIC MIXING PALETTE WITH MULTIPLE DIVISIONS (about €5.40 can be supplied by me as below)

PAINTS:
THE PAINTS MUST BE ARTISTS QUALITY AND IN TUBES (can be supplied by me as below)
The colours are from the Schmincke Catalogue; substitute with WinsorNewton as need be. (We do all our exercises with these artists’ quality tube paints, but please note that Winsor Newton Cotman tubes are Student quality and as such are not suitable for our exercises. However, if you already have these in your possession don’t discard them; bring them along later in the course and we will show you how to use them.)

THE COLOURS NEEDED ARE:

1. 208 AUREOLIN TONE

2. 225 CADMIUM YELLOW MEDIUM

3. 351 RUBY RED (or 502 PERMANENT ROSE WinsorNewton)

4. 466 PERMANENT ALIZARIN CRIMSON (WinsorNewton)

5. 349 CADMIUM RED

6. 362 LIGHT RED (WinsorNewton)

7. 317 INDIAN RED (WinsorNewton)

8. 513 VIRIDIAN

9. 514 HELIO GREEN (or 721 WINSOR GREEN (YS) WinsorNewton)

10. 487 COBALT BLUE

11. 494 ULTRAMARINE FINEST

12. 477 PHTHALO SAPHIRE BLUE (or 709 WINSOR BLUE (RS) WinsorNewton)

13. 227 CADMIUM ORANGE LIGHT

OTHER EQUIPMENT:

COLLAPSABLE LANTERNS (2) water carriers
PLASTIC MIXING PALETTE WITH MULTIPLE DIVISIONS (See above)

Miscellaneous

APRON
MASKING TAPE
8B PENCIL
DRAWING BOARD (We work on boards which Schoolhouse for Art supply. But if you can bring your own then a board of 10mm plywood thick, 43cm x 61cm approximately will work for a half sheet. WOODWORKERS on Mount Tallant Avenue, will cut this for you.)
ROLL OF GUMMED TAPE
CRAFT KNIFE

SCHMINCKE HORADAM AQUARELL / SERIES 14 / FINEST ARTISTS’ WATERCOLOURS 23 PAGE CATALOGUE, may be downloaded from the internet.

Meet Neil

During my childhood in Cork, I enjoyed watercolour painting.  Later, in architecture college, I studied architectural rendering in watercolour.  I took up painting consistently when I retired from practice.  I was selected for membership of the Water Colour Society of Ireland in 2018 and in September, 2021 I was awarded the Dr Pat McCabe Perpetual Trophy of the Society. My works are in private collections in Ireland and around the world.