Wetter is Better                                                 

An Exploration of Watercolor and More Class   

Instructor: Teri Valentine

Dates: 

Monday afternoons from 1:30pm - 4:00pm

April 7th and 14th                                   

Location:   

The Woodlands Art League Studio

701 Sawdust Rd Spring, TX 77380

C’mon, you know you want to…  join me for an exploration of my favorite medium; watercolor! 

Why watercolor?  It’s versatile, portable, bright and cheerful – or dark and moody.  It’s easy to clean-up, and you don’t need a studio’s worth of space to do it in.  You may have heard watercolor is hard and unpredictable.  But if you’ve space in your heart for a bit of serendipity and a willingness to play, you will find that watercolor is a lot of fun!

Lesson 1:  Your tools matter, and understanding the relationship between paint and water

We’ll have a brief discussion about paint, paper and brushes.  The Materials List was created to provide a fun painting experience without breaking the bank.

Water is the medium which makes it happen.  Different ratios of water/paint create different outcomes.  We’ll swatch our paint sets, practice the techniques of wet on wet, wet on dry, dry brush, and laying down a wash.  You will have the opportunity to test some different size, style, brands of brushes.

Lesson 2:  Playing with color, texture and mark-making

Grab your color wheel.  We’ll review different color schemes and spend some time mixing colors; you don’t really need 15 different tubes of green!  We’ll explore several techniques for creating visual texture, including, salt, rubbing alcohol and splatter.  We’ll play with some non-traditional ways to apply paint.

Lesson 3:  Let’s Paint!

Prepare a simple drawing and learn how to transfer a drawing onto watercolor paper.  We will then paint it, using the techniques learned in the first two lessons

Lesson 4:  Other water media, and do I want to buy them?

Pencils, crayons, sticks, liquid, crystals, pens, graphite…  The list is endless, but is it for you?  I will bring a variety other water media for you to experiment with.  I wish someone did this for me before I spent all that money.

 Cost:   $160.00 for the full session, $50.00 drop-in, Members

               $200.00 for the full session, $60.00 drop-in, Non-Members

Materials List

This list has been put together balancing cost vs performance.  DON’T rush into the local craft store for any old store brand paint/paper or brushes.  You will be disappointed!  I buy the majority of my watercolor supplies through Dickblick.com.  Also check out Jerry’s Artarama, Cheap Joe’s, or Amazon.  Prices provided are approximate as of March 2025.

Brushes:  I highly recommend Black Velvet by Silver Brush.  A great starting set is the Susan Louise Moyer set of 3 rounds, which includes a size 4, 8 and 12.  Cost $65.00

Paint: I personally use Daniel Smith or Winsor Newton Professional Watercolors.  Both brands run approximately $7.00 for a 5 ml tube, and $15.00 for a 15 ml tube.  Good quality student grade brands are Grumbacher Academy, Van Gogh, and Cotman by Winsor Newton.  These run approximately $4.00 - $5.00 per tube.   With the exception of Grumbacher Academy, all these brands sell ½ pan sets, from $25.00 up.

Recommended Colors (12):

• Lemon Yellow
• Cad Yellow Deep, or New Gamboge*
• Raw Sienna
• Burnt Sienna, or Quinacridone Burnt Orange*
• Quinacridone Gold
• Permanent Green Light, or Green Gold*
• Sap Green
• Cad Red Light or Medium, or Permanent Red*
• Alizarin Crimson, or Quinacridone Rose*
• French Ultramarine Blue
• Cerulean Blue
•  Phthalo Blue
• Violet/Purple – Optional
• Opera Pink – Optional

*Denotes the options I prefer to use.

Palette:  I LOVE the Mijello 18 Well water tight palette.  It is big enough to actually mix paint on, and small enough to be portable, and once it’s been set up, it doesn’t leak.  You can get it on Amazon for $10.00 - $12.00.  **

Paper:  Watercolor paper comes in a variety of weights, finishes, formats and price points.  A 140 lb, cold-pressed paper is the best all-around option to start with.  You will need:

• Spiral Bound watercolor sketchbook/journal. Decent, affordable options include Canson Artist Series, Canson XL, or Strathmore Visual Watercolor Journal.  Price ranges from $10.00 - $30.00 depending on size
•  9x12 watercolor block.  A block is a tablet of paper glued down on all 4 sides, which eliminates the need to tape down/stretch paper.  For the price ($20.00) the Canson Montval block is a very nice option

Miscellaneous Supplies

4 Bulldog clips

HB pencil and sharpener

White Plastic eraser

Small spray bottle

2 water containers

Paper towels

Tissues

Masking fluid (Pebeo Drawing Gum)

A couple of cheap, synthetic brushes for applying masking fluid

Blue painters tape

Rigid backboard for securing paper

**Important!!!!  If you decide to use a palette and tube paint, you will need to load your palette 3-4 days prior to use so the paint has time to firm up.  Leave it open in a safe space where your spouse, child, pet can’t reach it.  

If you decide to purchase a pan set of paint, unwrap the pans prior to class.  Unwrapping them takes longer than you think.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call or text or email:

Teri Valentine

936-203-8566

terilynn248@aol.com