Watercolour Workshop with Wayne Barry

Outline; In this workshop we will build on the previous ‘Introduction to Watercolour’ day held in the Creatives’ workspace and further develop an understanding of the watercolour medium, its potential, skills in composition and design, and the ‘wash’. Suited to ‘starters’ and returning painters plus up to intermediate level in other mediums.

As per our previous day;

Essential items; Your watercolour palette with plenty of mixing areas or a white porcelain plate, a roll of 25mm or 50mm masking tape, a couple of water containers – one for clean water and one for washing brushes (deep stackable plastic containers are great), a 2B or 3B pencil, an eraser (kneadable preferably), a small water mister, a box of tissues, a 30cm ruler, a piece or pieces of sea sponge, an old hand towel or kitchen sponge for wiping brushes and a craft knife.

To paint on; either a ¼ sheet or larger watercolour block or two ‘1/4 sheets’ (280 x 380mm) or larger, of 300gsm watercolour paper (cold pressed or ‘rough’). For painting boards - sealed 4.5mm or thicker Masonite, ply or MDF (420mm x 320mm are perfect) if you can manage it and give it a light sand after sealing, OR similar sizes in 5mm Core flute from Bunnings.

Note; Suitable paper (100% cotton/rag) is the one of main requisites for success. It is fine just to tape the paper down as long as it is minimum of 300gsm (grams per sq metre).

Essential WATERCOLOUR (i.e. soft) brushes; 25mm or 20mm flat, a biggish round brush for washes, some smaller round brushes for detail. Desirable brushes; a daggy old half inch house painting brush, an old tooth brush, a rigger brush.

Essential colours; Hint - share with a friend. Cobalt or similar Blue, Burnt sienna, Raw Sienna or Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Alizarin Crimson, white gouache.

Desirable colours; Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Phthalo Blue or Winsor Blue, Cadmium Red, Light red, Cadmium Yellow (Pale), Aureolin or Quinacridone Gold, Veridian or Winsor Green and Cadmium orange. Try to avoid the Anko brand as it has too much filler.

Other useful stuff; A dipping pen, a small bottle of masking fluid, toothpicks and straws to apply masking fluid, an old credit card, scissors, hair dryer and cords, plastic milk bottle cap, and some bulldog clips. Don’t worry if you can’t gather all the essential items, I’m sure we’ll get by. Most requirements also available at Memory Lane, Framing, Boundary St Forster.

## To stretch paper; soak your ½ and above sheets of paper in the bath or tub for 5 – 10 minutes, drain the water off and lay it on your board. Press around the edges with paper towelling, to remove excess water so that your tape will stick to the moist paper. Using 50mm gummed tape, you are going to tape the edges with half the tape covering the paper’s edge and half sticking to the painting board. Moisten mostly along the half of your tape that will adhere to the board and press into place a few times, with a moist sponge. Allow excess at the corners. Lay flat to dry. You need to be able to prop up your painting board to enable effective washes. Paper is available at Memory Lane, Boundary St, Forster and online. Core flute 5mm 600x900 $11 at Bunnings

To view some of Waynes work see: http://waynebarry.wixsite.com/wayne-barry-art or https://www.facebook.com/waynebarryart