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University & Professional Development

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Overview of course

In this course, you'll explore and experiment with sketching using watercolour pencils and painting with traditional watercolours. With guidance and support from our experienced tutor, you'll build confidence in the basics and gradually develop your own creative style.

 

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What will I learn?

Sketching with watercolour pencils

Watercolour pencils are perfect to use because they are adaptable, clean and portable. Though they are similar to normal pencils, it is when you add water that their uniqueness appears. When learning how to use watercolour pencils, we will be experimenting with lots of different techniques on scrap paper and when confident using them on finished sketches.

Together we will complete several projects and you will need watercolour pencils, a set of brushes suitable for watercolour, a pencil sharpener, good quality paper and a jar of water, tissues for blotting your brush and a plastic eraser - all essential materials for this course.

We will revisit and develop the skills and techniques of watercolour pencil sketching, which include crosshatching, brushing out colour, brushstrokes, blotting, wet on dry, dry on wet, dry on dry, grading colour, learning how to achieve light and shade. We will also cover the rules of perspective, composition and texture that will help us to finalise our watercolour pieces.

 

Painting with watercolour

Watercolours have a translucent, light quality and are great to experiment with brushstrokes and details. The important tools for watercolour painting are a sketchpad, paints, brushes, a jar for water, a palette, a board, a pencil, watercolour paper, tissue and a putty eraser. The paints are available in pans and tubes. Tubes can be useful when painting large areas, whereas pans are smaller and easier to transport. It is crucial to have a good quality watercolour paper when doing the final pieces because watercolour paint makes a feature of the paper they are painted on.

We will experiment with a variety of techniques including highlights using tissue paper, wet-in-wet, achieving a gradient effect, using a dry brush and building up on light and shade, hatching, crosshatching and solid shading.

Who is the course for?

This course is suitable for both beginners and students who have already attended our previous courses and workshops. If you are new to this, there is no need to worry, you will be under the professional supervision of our art tutor, Marina.

Will I have to provide anything?

Please bring along any watercolour drawing materials you have to the first session and the tutor will advise what you will need for subsequent classes.

If you have any questions regarding materials please ask.

I'm interested. What should I do now?

To view all leisure learning courses at West Suffolk College in Bury St Edmunds click on the following link to find out more:

Click here to view our Leisure Learning Programme in Bury and surrounding areas

Days & times

Starting 18/09/2025
Thursday 18:00 - 21:00

Course price

£155.00

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