Drawing and Painting with Watercolour 8-week course (Thetford)

Art is a great activity to encourage mindfulness, relaxation and of course creativity.

Get Creative at the Thetford Learning Centre

This course is suitable for people with some experience of using watercolour and those who have attended our previous watercolour classes.

During this 8 week (24 hours) course, our experienced tutor will guide and support you through from mastering basic techniques and to improving and developing your own style.

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.

Together we will learn and improve our skills, having fun through exploring different watercolour techniques and developing our individual styles.

According to your budget you can purchase your art materials from the professional art shop Goslings in Sudbury, or more affordable ones, including sets of watercolour pencils, paints, watercolour paper and sketchbooks can be found in The Works, Poundland, the local supermarkets, and of course from online retailers.

You will need to purchase materials which can be sourced from specialist stockists such as The Works or online stores, which means you can buy according to your budget.

It would be advisable to purchase an easel which could be a standing easel or there are desktop ones available.

If you have any questions regarding materials please ask.

About your tutor:

Marina T-Harrison has a BA Hons in Arts ( BA in Painting, Electives in Scenography, and Conservation and Restoration) and Master in Arts (MA in Scenography, Theatre Direction Pathway).

Her educational background is built on the values of the University of Arts London, where she completed her education in the arts at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.

Marina has been teaching at WSC for several years, on many art courses and workshops.

Whether you are interested to have art as a hobby and a leisure activity, or pursue a career in the arts, Marina is a strong believer that you can achieve this at any stage of your life.

Anyone who is under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a full fee paying adult.

Please note we run all our courses based on a minimum number of participants.

If you are no longer able to attend the class please contact the team at your earliest convenience. Cancellations received within 48 hours of the class start time are non-refundable.