The Leaves of Autumn: Botanical Watercolor Workshop

The Leaves of Autumn: Botanical Watercolor Workshop

360 Online Weekend WS | This program is completed

All Levels

10/31/2020-11/7/2020

9:00 AM-1:00 PM PDT on Sat

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$170.00

$153.00

$10.00

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Leaves are always a challenge for the botanical artist, but the colors and forms of autumn leaves make them an enjoyable opportunity to play with a variety of methods, such as wet-on-wet washes and varying dry-brush techniques. Beginners to botanical illustration will learn observation and measurement skills necessary for an accurate botanical rendering, as well as the use of watercolor washes and dry-brush technique to create three-dimensional, aesthetically pleasing, and scientifically correct images. Intermediate students will gain experience in mixing colors on the palette and in layering, and find plenty of opportunity to even loosen up a bit with the wet-on-wet washes so effective in capturing the colors of autumn.

  • • Pencils: 2H, HB
  • • Ruler or measuring dividers
  • • Kneadable eraser; and a Tombow mono zero little “clic pen” eraser is a nice luxury!
  • • Tracing paper—8 ½ x 11 is big enough for our leaves; use it for preliminary drawings, protective coverings
  • • Drafting/painters/kraft tape: The ideal tape for securing paper to board is kraft tape, wetted, and firmly attached. I usually hand out the small amounts needed in class rather than force students to buy a roll the size of a spare tire, but you can probably get away with a masking or painters tape if you don’t get too wet with your washes.
  • • 2 water containers—large yoghurt containers or mason jars work well
  • • Paper towels or cotton rags
  • • Soft brush or feather for sweeping erasings off paper
  • • A burnisher for transfers—basically these need a thin, crisp, curved edge to work well; the cheap ones I used to get are no longer made. It looks like the bone scorer at dickblick.com (64214-3414) might work, and spoons that don’t have too sharp an edge, or some bone folders with a thin edge will, too. These are for the transfer method I like best, but I can show you several ways to transfer your preliminary drawing onto your watercolor paper, so don’t spend a lot of money trying to get one of these.
  • • Arches 140lb Hot Press watercolor paper; hot press is smooth and takes detail well. You can purchase Arches by the 22 x 30 sheet or in blocks with fixed pages, or in tablets with loose pages. Sheets have the best, most consistent quality; blocks are costly and won’t necessarily have the preferred side up, and tablet pages have shown some issues with surface problems. If you buy a sheet (dickblick.com has them, about 8.00 plus 3.00 “handling fee”) you’ll cut it into smaller sizes, so mark all around the edges before cutting. Front (F) for us is the side where the watermarks in two corners read backwards. Mark “Fs” around the edges on this front side so you’ll be able to tell when you cut it up into pieces which is back and front, as this is important! Other hotpress papers—Fabriano, etc.—will also work.
  • • *Brushes: Should be good quality Kolinsky sable—not all sable brushes are equal. I recommend the following but if you have something else already that comes to a fine point and has, in the #3 or $4 size, a good “belly”, that will probably be fine; there are other good brands (Daniel Smith, Isobey, etc.)
  • #3 brush: I like either the Da Vinci Maestro 35 or the Winsor Newton Series 7, or Rafael 8408
  • #1 brush: Winsor Newton Series 7 miniature or regular round (or the DaVinci Cosmo-top Spin #1 is a decent synthetic (and less expensive) choice, as are the Princeton small brushes; look for a good, sharp point.)
  • dickblick.com may have them, but there’s been a supply issue with the WN Series 7. If not, go for the synthetic smalls. They also carry the DaVinci Maestro and Rafael 8408 #3s, but I don’t like the Maestros for the small brushes, as they are too long and wimpy for our purposes. And if you prefer to avoid using sable for any brush, the Cosmotop Spins are decent, and there are quite a few other brands listed on dickblick.com as alternatives to sable; the Princeton Heritage line sounds interesting, though I haven’t tried them.
  • • Paints: Pre-pandemic, I’ve provided little palettes and paint at a low price in class, but we’re not able to do that online. The colors you need will depend on the leaf you are painting; I can recommend colors based on your leaf, and I can recommend some basics that you can build a lot of different colors off of. If you already have paints, remember that you can mix many colors from basic primaries: red, blue, yellow. If you have a warm and a cool of each of those, or even just three basics: a red like Quinacridone red—not too cool or too warm; a basic blue (Indanthrone, Fr. Ultramarine); a basic yellow (Winsor, Hansa Yellow light) you should be okay for this class. Some additional colors that can prove handy for fall leaves include Perm. Alizarin Crimson, Yellow Ochre, New Gamboge...Mine are mostly Winsor Newton, and colors do differ by brand, but other brands would be fine with these, also.
  • If you need to buy paints, get the little tubes; dickblick.com has pretty good prices. Winsor Newton is an excellent brand, if probably the most expensive (get pro grade, not the Cotmans.) Daniel Smith is also good, and seems to be offering smaller tubes as well, now. M Graham are good, so are Schmincke and Holbein. Don’t buy sets where the tube doesn’t give you the pigment number—i.e. PV 19 (Pigment Violet 19.) Good quality paints tell you exactly what’s in the tube, and usually will also tell you how lightfast it is (I = best, IV = worst) whether it’s transparent, opaque, etc. Another good option is to purchase the Daniel Smith paint sample pages—the 4 with 238 colors are available through Amazon for around 22.00 and you can go a long way with what seem to be small dots of paint, and have a multitude of color choices as well: DANIEL SMITH 238 Watercolor Dot Color Chart, 4 Sheets, 1900482
  • • Palette: You’ll want some with mixing wells or a fair amount of space to build puddles when mixing washes. And also flat space to spread colors to make “skins” for your dry brush applications. Some good options: butcher pans or white porcelain or ceramic plates can have enough room for lining up dabs of the paint you plan to use, and also for mixing those colors, both in puddles for washes and spread out to dry for “skins.” It’s handy to have those little round “wells” available in various styles and forms to mix larger quantities of washes in, too.
  • • ‘Gator board or masonite watercolor board is ideal—but basically something sturdy to affix your paper to. ‘Gator board takes water and kraft tape well, lasts a long time, and is light; the 3/8th inch size is as strong as the ½’ and takes up less space. BUT you can get by with any strong board that won’t go funny if you wet the back of your paper before attaching it, and that masking or painters tape will stick to.
  • • Colorful fall leaves! You can draw your leaf ahead of time if you prefer, but we’ll go over ways to do that in class, so it’s fine if you wait on that. Do find a selection, if possible, so you have some options to choose from. If you have some great leaves, and are willing to share your image, send it to me so others can use it, too, as I’ll try to provide photos for those who can’t get leaves. It’s always a gamble setting a date for a fall leaf workshop, as the turning of leaves depends on weather and temperature, so when that will happen in any location is unpredictable! You can preserve leaves for up to a month if you store them between damp paper towels, in airtight containers—ziplock bags or otherwise—in the refrigerator. Take pictures of them when first you find them, though. Let me know if you’d like me to send you some jpgs of copyright free leaf photos; also, check out Freeimages.com.
  • • Easel or table top. • Paper towels • microphone and camera enabled computer • ipad or smart tablet. • smart phone (android or IOS) • Strong internet connection • Excited Attitude!