Details for "Watercolour Landscape Painting - David McEown by Zoom"
David McEown – Watercolour Landscape Painting on Zoom
Wednesdays 9:30 - 12:30 February 3, 10, 17, 24
Canadian artist David McEown has used the medium of watercolour for the past 30 years to explore and express many of this earth’s wilderness areas. His paintings from Antarctica to the North Pole are represented in collections worldwide. David is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design and an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, which in 2005 and 2018 awarded him the society’s prestigious A.J. Casson Medal. He is also a sought after teacher and has conducted workshops and multimedia presentations for numerous art societies and museums sharing his reverence for nature and passion for the creative act of painting.
Inspired by landscape themes of Canada's west coast this live online workshop will explore essential watercolour techniques and colour perception exercises that will prepare participants with the ability to paint directly from nature. Also, we will learn to interpret and transcend sketches and photo reference into studio paintings with this spontaneous and flowing travel friendly medium!
- Live entertaining split screen demonstrations. Video treats of painting locations from around the world.
- An edited recap video to refer to after each session accessible by password for a month on David's Vimeo channel.
- Participants can upload their work for highlighted critique sessions throughout the series. Also informal critique and walk around the virtual 'room' for participant to share their work.
Session 1
- Introductions, the studio and tools. Warm up of Essential Techniques wet into wet, control the bead, gravity, value and colour exercises. Landscape studies, using all the toys and tools! 2 small or quarter sheets for this. Then a demo, larger painting of wet in wet Mountains Landscapes). No reference material required as we will work from imagination. A video link, recapping these essential will be provided after the session.
Session 2
- Mountain Wildflowers, Full sheet (22 x30), step by step sustained demo. Atmosphere, Hard and Soft edges and Illusion of space. Underpainting, then working from the middle ground to back ground, mark making, negative shape reading.
- What the photo does not see and creative license!
- Hierarchy of focal point and using composition to tell the story.
(reference will be provided a week before, but artists may certainly use their own.)
Session 3
Glacial Lake reflections. (from the Rockies!), water ripples, blues, reflections and illusion of depth. Hierarchy of focal point and using composition to tell the story.
- Demo will be a full sheet or 22 x 30 inches. (reference will be provided a week before, but artists may certainly use their own.)
Session 4
- Sunset, Ocean shoreline. Demo will be a ½ sheet or 15 x 22 inches (reference will be provided a week before, but artists may certainly use their own.)
Critique
Supplies
Here are a few supply suggestions I would like to share, as the variety of quality and quantity of products on the market can be overwhelming. For this course, I recommend that students buy artist quality materials. Student brands can lead to inferior results, often leaving one somewhat discouraged. We will be starting with a limited colour selection, so that your initial investment will not be too high. For those already experienced please feel free to bring whatever supplies you may already have that are not mentioned below, so we can share and learn from others experience.
Paint
Windsor Newton, Holbein, Daniel Smith are very good quality.
Paint available in tubes or moist cakes. Tubes are preferred however for customizing the pallet and for saturation. Store tubes in a small box or container, so as not to crush the tubes. The paints come in various sizes of tubes, from 5 ml to 14ml, quality paint goes a long way.
Must have Primaries: Aureolin yellow, Permanent Rose, Pthalo Blue or Windsor Blue (green shade)
add these also if budget permits, Cadmium Lemon Yellow, Scarlet Lake red, Ultramarine Blue, Turquoise blue or Cerulean, also some secondary colours I sometimes use, quin violet, Winsor Violet, Cad orange red shade.
Palette
- white watercolour palette, should have at least 3 mixing pans, lots of cake wells. For travel I have one that folds and a thumb hole to hold it. Pictured below is my studio palette.
Colours left to right; Winsor Blue (green shade), Turquois blue (Holbein), Horizon Blue (Holbein), Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Aureolin, Winsor Orange (red shade), Scarlett Lake, Permanent Rose, Quinarchridone Violet (Stevensons), Winsor Violet, Ultramarine Blue. (most brands are Winsor Newton or Holbein)
Watercolour Papers
Arches, Saunders, Winsor Newton or Fabriano are excellent. I prefer A’rches 140lb cold press (bright white version and natural white are good). Also I enjoy the Saunders 200lb cold press for studio work.
Purchase of the standard full sheet is most economical, 22” x 30”, then cut it to quarters, for the first few sessions. (my sustained demos will be at half sheet (15 x 22 inches, and full sheet, 22 x 30 inches)
Thus, I like to have a painting support board, 16” x 23”, for 1/2 sheet or 16 x 12 for 1/4 sheets to clip my paper on to. For Travel and keeping light, I have a folder made out of plastic corrigate (common display board) that way paintings are stored inside and you can attach and paint on top. Acid free foam core could also work. Also watercolour blocks and pads (spiral is best) are practical. These blocks are available in many sizes yet are more expensive. Note I prefer not to stretch paper using tape, instead I use bulldog clips and stretch as I paint!
- Weight of paper recommended…140 lb cold press, cotton rag. Feel free to experiment with other weights and textures and show us what you come up with!
Watercolour Brushes
For this class, use a pointed round, #12, #10 or #8 and a #4 brush. The least costly are the sable-synthetic blend, with the most expensive being the pure sable. The sable-synthetic blend is good value to begin with. Bring along any other old kinds of brushes you may have, for experimentation. I also recommend a large flash wash brush, (1 inch at least, I also use a 3 inch house painting!) Some Chinese bamboo wolf hair brushes create interesting effects. You will be introduced to other types later on during the workshop.
Other Equipment
Brush Container: Holder for brushes, such as a roll-up type. Must be breathable, as brushes can rot if stored wet.
Bulldog Clips: Needed to secure paper adhesive tape: Can be used as an alternate to bulldog clips.
HB Pencil, kneaded eraser, knife , water container or collapsible plastic container (yogurt container works) very well for traveling, paper towel.
Zoom
Have Zoom app downloaded on your pc or device. Be familiar with the audio (mute), microphone and video settings. Practice on a test meeting https://zoom.us/test
We will have a rehearsal and more information sent before the class on the technical and format outline of our Zoom virtual workshop.
Good internet signal is helpful. Plugging directly into ethernet modem is most stable but wireless can work well, but keep in mind other devices open may limit one’s bandwidth. Helpful to check signal with apps such as https://www.speedtest.net, noting the upload speed is important for zoom meetings.
In case signal drops or one cannot attend, this workshop will be recorded with an edited version posted online for paying participants to refer to.
Cost & Status
- CAN$245.00
- CAN$208.25 with Member Workshop 15% Discount