Watercolour Portraits

You will develop different watercolour portrait painting techniques to build your confidence, and complete a watercolour portrait in a day.

What will the day cover and how will it be taught?

This is an opportunity for people of all abilities to develop skills and confidence in using watercolour for painting portraits.  Photographs and photocopies will be used as source material for the portraits eliminating a lot of the time usually taken to draw out before painting.

You will be introduced to some different watercolour techniques and complete more than one painting in a day.

During the workshop, you will learn:

1. How to prepare for a watercolour portrait.
2. Some colour mixing related to portraiture.
3. Different techniques and watercolour mark making for portraiture.
4. Some watercolour portraits by other artists as a source of inspiration.

What do I need to bring with me?

Please bring:-

• A3 watercolour paper x 3.  These should be rough or NOT in texture and at least 140IB/300gms.  They can be loose, stretched on separate boards or in a block pad.
• Pencil.
• Tracing paper or trace down.
• A4 photocopy of a face/head that you want to paint.  Make this fill the A4 surface.  Have the photo in a colour form as well – either a photograph or digital image.
• A basic set of Watercolour paints (Cotman or W&N student quality are good).
• A range good soft watercolour brushes (a No.8 Sable or Sable mix is good).  Bring any more watercolour brushes that you have.
• Water spray bottle.
• Paper towels.
  NB – if purchasing art materials at Youdells access a 10% discount by saying that you are attending an Art Class at the Brewery.

Important Information

Participants need to be 16+ yrs. Sessions will be held in studio 3.

Are there any additional costs?

No

About the tutor

Catherine MacDiarmid has 29 years’ of experience teaching a range of art classes and applying her knowledge as a practising artist to her role as a Tutor.  She exhibits widely, including exhibiting in the BP Portrait in 2001/2, New Light Art Tour 2021/22 and 2023/24 (of outstanding Northern-based Artists) and regularly at the Mall Galleries.  Catherine has won many awards for her art, most recently being the Watercolour Materials Award in the Jacksons Painting Prize 2023.  She is an elected member of The Lakes Artists Society, the Contemporary British Portrait Painters and appeared in Sky Portrait Artists of the Year 2014, 2018 reaching the semi-finals in 2019.  As well as completing private portrait commissions her work is collected internationally and she works from her home-studio in Kendal.

See all Creative Learning courses here.