No artist statements, no bullshit. We are going to spend our entire class working on the craft of painting. We will have short talks each class with inspiration from artists who focus on the craft of making art. I’ll talk about elements and principles of design like composition and value, you’ll get clear, direct feedback to help you improve and grow your techiniques.

Here is a breakdown of each section:

Section 1: What Makes a Good Photo

In our first section, I'll share my simple systems for finding and testing compositions, you'll get hands on in your sketchbook and with your camera (cellphone or digital camera!) and come away with a deeper understanding of what makes a good reference as your painting's foundation. You’ll learn how to make thumbnail sketches, play with values, and edit photos to your liking.

Section 2: Understanding Color

In section two we dive right in learning our paint by understanding how to mix and layer colors, then we will create color charts. The color chart system is the one Mel has used for years as a reference. It will help you confidently learn to mix what you see, understand the varied behaviors of different pigments, and help you get excited about painting. Plus, the color palette suggested in the supplies for the class is a wide gamut that will have you mixing almost any color you can purchase in a tube!

Section 3: Drawing Systems and Introducing Value

In section three we will learn different systems for setting up a drawing, even if you can “only draw a stick figure” These systems function like training wheels making you feel more comfortable and safe easing into the idea of painting. We will practice them together, step by step and then learn how to mix our own black paint for creating a value-only painting.

Section 4: Understanding Value in Paint

We will work with our mixed black paint to create detailed value studies of the images we selected, edited, and drew in the previous section. You’ll watch a lecture on shape and value and then follow along with two demos that show step-by-step how to understand applying values to your watercolor painting. By the end of this section you’ll understand clearly how much water to use, what brushes perform best at each step, and how we will apply this to a color painting

Section 5: Putting It All Together With Color

In this section you will apply the assignment of color recipes to a final full color painting inspired by a photograph. You’ll watch a lecture encouraging you to play with shape and not worry about perfect photorealism, but to embrace how you paint and approach the image. This section is full of two hour long demos you can watch and even make studies from!

Section 6: Staying Persistent

In the final section of the class I will walk you through building a dashboard for inspiration and how to keep things organized as you get inspired. Then we will go into a lecture on how and why we should make studies of other artists work in our sketchbooks before finishing the class up with a final recap on everything you learned.