3-day course: Exploring Turner’s Watercolour Techniques [SAS22]

The course will look at JMW Turner’s watercolour techniques. His methods and materials will be discussed and demonstrated and you will be given time to practice using wet in wet, scratching out and stopping out, together with trying out his use of gum Arabic and Ox gall to enhance your paintings. Reference images will be available and weather permitting some outdoor sketching will also be scheduled. The theme of the workshop will be on exploring Turner’s innovative methods and to link this with your own personal style. Art historical references of Turner’s exciting work will be shown in the form of a slide projection. Expert tuition is provided by our tutor Bob Meecham, through demonstration and practice. It is hoped that you will be encouraged to go to Tate Britain to see the work and have a deeper understanding of this unique and innovative painter.

CORE SKILLS:

• Focus on sketching methods using line and tone, colour and texture.
• Practice free wet in wet washes scratching and stopping out, wax resist and dry brush.
• Explore Turner’s techniques in more detail: use of impressionist colour, brushwork and composition skills.
• Practice of quick outdoor tonal studies to work up into a more finished work.

MATERIALS LIST: 

Set of watercolour brushes including a large wash brush, simple palette (white plastic or ceramic plates are ideal), glass jars, kitchen paper roll or tissues, sharp craft knife and sandpaper. Several sheets of 300gsm weight watercolour papers, Bockingford or other (or a watercolour pad of similar weight paper) and a sketch pad. Watercolours of reasonable artist or student quality including ultramarine blue, cerulean or cyan blue, light red, scarlet lake, permanent rose, cadmium yellow pale, burnt umber, viridian and indigo, black or brown pen, pencils and a rubber for sketching. It would be useful to bring along some examples of Turner landscape and some black and white photocopied landscapes to work with, particularly if the weather is bad. You may wish to purchase Gum Arabic and Ox gall mediums, but there will be some available for you to try.