Molly Murrah's
FREE Online Watercolor 101 Class
FREE Online Course: Watercolor 101
Instructor: Molly Murrah
Length: 5 Weeks
Dates: Fridays, July 30 - August 27, 2010
Click on this link to Sign Up on the creativeLIVE website:
http://creativelive.com/courses/watercolor101/
View our Tips for Watching and Accessing the WebCast
Molly Murrah's fun, 5-week watercolor class for beginners will be repeated after a popular first run! Learn about color, papers, brushes, drawing and composition, as well as many great painting techniques that will help you create your own special works of art.
DANIEL SMITH is proud to sponsor this unique learning opportunity!
We're thrilled that our Watercolor Paints and supplies will be featured and used throughout the five weekly classes of demonstration and instruction.
Find the Class Supply List Here!
Read Week 1 Summary
Week 2 Overview
Molly talked about what watercolors are made of: pigments mixed with gum arabic (usually) which is the water soluble vehicle or medium that the pigments are suspended in. Pigments can be natural or synthetic, and for the most part synthetic pigments have replaced fugitive colors (natural pigments like Rose Madder, which fade over time) with permanent synthetic pigments. We learned what makes watercolor different from the other painting mediums: oil and acrylic, which is the vehicle, or medium that the pigments are suspended in or mixed with. For oil it is generally linseed oil, and acrylic is an acrylic polymer.
Watercolor paint properties were up next. Molly talked about watercolor’s “transparency” which gives them such glow and luminosity, how some watercolors are more “opaque” and how that quality can be used for painting. She talked about how some colors are made of pigments that are more staining (Phthalos) and while they can be transparent, they actually stain the watercolor paper and you can never completely “lift” that color off. Molly talked about how some watercolors “granulate” meaning that they have sediments that settle into the depressions of the watercolor paper causing interesting and beautiful results.
The color palette Molly chose for Watercolor 101 has nine colors: 3 cool primaries, 3 warm primaries, and 3 opaque watercolors:
- Cool primaries: Aureolin, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue
- Warm primaries: New Gamboge, Pyrrol Scarlet, Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)
- Opaque primaries: Yellow Ochre, Indian red, Cerulean Blue
We learned about Color Fundamentals, Color Strategy, and Taking Risks with Watercolors. We did an exercise with the “Color Wheel” painting out the warm primaries on the 2nd exercise sheet, then mixing the warm primaries together to get our warm secondary colors: orange, violet (or at least an interesting violet brown) and green. As homework we were asked to finish the color mixing to complete the warm primary color wheel and to also do color wheel exercises with the cool primaries, and the opaque primaries. Molly suggested mixing only two colors together, the more you mix together, the faster they can turn “muddy”. You also need to keep in mind how many pigments make up a particular watercolor, some are made from mixing 2 or more pigments so can turn “muddy” faster.
Molly then discussed Intensity/Saturation, Temperature, and Analogous & Complementary Colors. In our next exercise, Molly talked about 5 values (higher contrast) and 10 values (less contrast) and then had us mix a 5 value scale. We learned about mixing watercolors for shadows, layering and glazing with watercolors, and how watercolor’s transparency allows depth of color.
Doing these types of exercises provides great “hands on” knowledge for using watercolors, mixing them, and feeling more comfortable painting with them. Molly reminded us to 'have faith and don’t give up'.
Molly finished up the Watercolor 101 2nd class by answering questions, both studio audience and the much larger online audience, great questions. Of course, this is just a brief outline of an information-packed 2 hour class with visuals! Really looking forward to next Fridays’ class, “Papers & Brushes” be sure to attend!
Molly's work is truly beautiful and she created this course to share her passion with other Artists - Beginners or Intermediate!
What a great opportunity to try out some colors and pick up some techniques from a professional artist! Each segment is 2 hours long and, if you miss any, creativeLIVE will have recordings available for purchase shortly after the first class.
Click on this link to Sign up on the creativeLIVE website:
http://creativelive.com/courses/watercolor101/
Take part in this FREE Online Watercolor instructional class with Molly.
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An experienced, freelance graphic designer and watercolor artist, currently living in Kirkland, WA, Molly has lived and worked in the Seattle area for over 25 years.
Her graphic design skills encompass designing, producing and managing integrated marketing, corporate identity, advertising, and sales promotion materials, with a specialty in direct response marketing. She has also designed over 40 children’s books.
Molly's first exposure to watercolors was on a painting trip to Greece in 1997 with a local artist. She began painting in earnest in 2002 when she enrolled in weekly classes with nationally-known artist, Deanne Lemley. In 2005, Molly began studying with local artist, Kay Barnes, and still attends weekly classes... there is always something to learn!
Molly believes that her strengths as an artist – aside from being balanced between right- and left-brain disciplines – are in composition, color harmony, and the representation of light. These skills have been greatly influenced and honed by her experiences as a graphic designer.
She presently works as both a graphic designer and watercolor artist, finding the balance between the two very fulfilling.
http://www.mollymurrah.com/
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