Watercolours: Autumn Term 2025

with Sophie Newnham

Watercolours are a pleasure to work with, whether adding a wash of colour to a drawing, layering to find new colours and shades or as a way to create delicate textures and form. 

This medium has subtlety, translucency and an element of surprise.  Over the course, we will also be looking at a handful of artists who have found new and interesting ways to use watercolours.

Open to all levels

Course Dates Autumn Term 2025

15, 22, 29 September

6, 13, 20 October

(Half Term 27 October)

3, 10, 17, 24 November

1, 8 December

Module 1: Nature Studies in the Style of Jan van Kessel

For this 4-week module we will be taking inspiration from the 17th-century artist Jan van Kessel.

Students will build observational, drawing and watercolour painting skills by studying natural forms, leading to a final composition in his style.

Van Kessel

Week 1: Drawing and Painting from Nature – Shells

• Study of Jan van Kessel’s shell paintings and natural forms.

• Focus: Contour drawing, tonal rendering, and watercolour palette mixing.

• Reference: Shells and Insects

Week 2: Drawing & Painting from Nature – Leaves

• Focus on leaves – structure, form and texture.

• Drawing: Graphite and pen studies of veins and edges.

• Painting: Mixing the palette – adding warm and cool natural tones, learning how to create smooth transitions. Light and shadow.

• Reference: Butterflies, Shells and Flowers (leaf detail)

Week 3: Composing a Nature Study – Planning the Composition

• Study van Kessel’s balanced compositions.

• Map out composition on watercolour paper.

• Watercolour: Palette mixing, adding background and first colour layers.

Week 4: Finish Composition – Van Kessel-Inspired Natural Study

• Fine tuning details and refining composition.

• Adding shadows and contrast.

Natural & Reference Materials:

• Shells, leaves, pebbles, flower pressings.

• Printed images of Jan van Kessel’s works.

Module 2: From Botanical to Symbolic – Hilma af Klint 

In this module we will begin by studying the botanical watercolours of Hilma af Klint, looking at individual flower forms from life and referencing her earlier works. We will then go on to create our own fluid, abstract forms, based on her palette of intuitive colour mixing and symbolic abstraction.

af Klimt

Week 5: Gentle Beginnings – Watercolour Flower Studies

• Recreating Hilma af Klint’s early watercolour paintings of flowers.

• Colour mixing, layering, adding details.

Week 6: Observational & Expressive Botanical Painting

• Watercolour sketches of flowers from life.

• Experiment with exaggerating or simplifying colour and form.

• Create colour maps. Realism vs stylisation in Hilma’s botanical works.


Week 7: From Nature to Abstraction – Painting with Gouache

• Create colourful versions of flower forms using only shapes and lines.

• Creating a composition using botanical and abstract elements from the artist’s world.

• Layering colour washes for depth and radiance.

Week 8: Final Composition – Botanical Abstraction

• Create a symbolic botanical composition, combining pen drawing, watercolour and gouache.

• Balance, intuitive colour mixing, and layering

Module 3: Capturing Light – Inspired by Monet 

In this 4-week module, we will explore watercolour techniques to interpret the light, mood, and colour palette of Claude Monet’s landscapes. We will focus on capturing atmosphere, seasonal tones, and expressive light, translating his oil painting style into layered and luminous watercolours.

Monet

Week 9: Discovering the Forgotten Monet – Painting Atmosphere

• Introduction to Monet’s rediscovered painting, creating atmospheric colour and light.

• Explore Monet’s use of purples, greys, + golden tones in landscape painting.

• Colour Mixing Focus: Misty purples, soft blues, warm highlights.

• Painting a watercolour study inspired by 'Morning on the Seine'.

 

Week 10: Light Across the Landscape – Inspired by the Haystack Series

• Discovering how Monet captured the same subject in different light conditions.

• Create studies of haystacks or simple landscape shapes at 3 times of day: sunrise, golden hour, dusk.

• Focus: Layering transparent washes, experimenting with warm and cool tones.

Week 11: Seasons and Mood – Landscapes

• Explore Monet’s seasonal works—misty mornings, winter haze, golden summer light. Atmosphere and layered light.

• Colour mapping, creating seasonal colour palettes.

• Painting a landscape study using Monet’s approach to atmosphere and layered light.

Week 12: Final Landscape Composition – Monet-Inspired Watercolour

• Finish composition inspired by Monet’s palette and style.

• Light layering, expressive brushwork, soft transitions.

Skills covered: From drawing to watercolour painting. Painting with washes vs detailing; Fine-tuning our watercolours with pencils and fine-liner pens; Adding depth, seeing a range of tones; highlighting.

All necessary materials will be provided for your first session.

Materials provided throughout the course: Pencils- Hs to Bs; rubbers; basic paint, palettes and water holders.

Materials to bring with you: a range of watercolour brushes of various sizes; a block of watercolour paper; a simple set of watercolour paints; a set of fine-liner coloured inks; a bottle of masking fluid, and paper towels.

““Sophie took us through all the key skills we needed for drawing and painting from nature and somehow I now have the confidence to just try drawing things around me. Before this I had no idea how to even start. Thank you!”

Undecided? contact us to arrange for an initial taster. If you decide to continue to the end of term, the taster is deducted from the course fee.

For a taster session, all materials are included. For regular students, please see above for advice on materials required, and of course we can advise you on obtaining materials at the taster.