World of Watercolour: Capturing Colour, Light and Mood

Feel inspired by the unique language of watercolours as Tanya Baily guides your discovery of the medium through a balance of structured lessons, demonstrations and exercises. Whether sketching quickly or creating more sustained pieces, feel supported in finding your rhythm and artistic style. Learn how to mix colours, organise your palette and preserve the light and vibrancy in your work. From wet washes to glazing and dry brush techniques, this immersive course provides students with the opportunity to build a strong technical understanding of watercolour painting.

Tanya shares her wealth of knowledge of not only the application of watercolour paints but the tools, materials and studio systems that set students up for success.

Tanya’s instruction is delivered alongside engaging and visually stimulating subject matter, including still life, landscape and the human figure. Students will be introduced to techniques both past and contemporary, with reference to watercolour artists from history to the present.

Through this course, students will gain confidence in the application and manipulation watercolour paints. You will build foundational knowledge of paper properties, palette building and brush selection, discovering how these elements work together to support expressive and intentional watercolour practice.

Course Schedule
The following is an indicative course schedule only. The content and pace of the sessions may vary in response to the students in the program.

Day 1 & 2: Light, Tonal Value and Colour
Students undertake structured exercises to learn the key techniques of watercolour application. Develop an understanding of how to manage tonal value and colour theory as it applies to mixing with watercolour pigments.

Day 3: Composition and Best Practice
Learning to plan a composition, utilising techniques and skills learnt in Days 1 and 2.

Days 4 and 5: Individual Projects
Students slow down and develop images or projects of their own. Tanya guides students individually as they choose where to focus.

Day 5: Presentation and Troubleshooting
Morning: Students continue working on their own projects with individual help from Tanya
Afternoon: The group takes part in a critique, and Tanya gives each student troubleshooting tips.

* NAS Short Courses are open to students of ages 16 years and over. The NAS Art Club is open to students between 15 - 17 years old.

* Drawing and painting short courses may be held in upstairs studios. If access to stairs is not suitable, please contact us at short.courses@nas.edu.au

* What to bring? Please refer to the list of required materials in the Art Materials field below.

Students must supply their own art materials, please refer to the list below.

Note: Students are welcome to bring pre-owned and preferred watercolour materials.

Basic materials

• Good quantity of high-quality watercolour paper, approx. A4 size or A3 size preferable – Arches 300gsm loose sheets divided up yourself is the ideal paper
• Watercolour pan palette(s)
• 2 clean jars or containers
• Soft pencil, eraser, ruler, masking tape
• Sketchbook or paper for drawing up composition plans
• Box of tissues

Watercolour paints

Buy quality paints such as Winsor & Newton, Art Spectrum, Daniel Smith, Schmincke or Old Holland. Below is a basic palette idea (with a cool and warm of each primary colour):

• Raw sienna
• Lemon yellow
• Windsor red (or cadmium)
• Alizarin crimson
• Prussian blue
• Ultramarine blue

Brushes

Soft-haired watercolour brushes, for example number 8, 10, 12 (e.g. Roymac revolution taklon round 10 or 8 / Artworks squirrel 2)

or

1 soft-haired watercolour brush 1 inch wash brush (flat) – for laying down washes (e.g. Francheville Ox Hair 5/8 Wash brush or Neef 3/4 camel hair wash/mop brush)

Note: These brands are example brushes however you can also bring any other watercolour brushes you have.

Optional extra materials (not for the first class)

• Masking fluid
• Inks and ink pen
• Watercolour sponge
• Loose sheets of thick cartridge paper for ink drawings
• Larger brushes

Optional: Small hair dryer

Enclosed footwear is essential in all studios on campus.

Tanya Baily is a multi-award-winning artist specialising in watercolour painting. She exhibits in Australia and internationally and takes commissions from her studio in Sydney. She is a member of the Australian Watercolour Institute and has won the Rex Irwin Prize (2011) and the National Watercolour Prize (2019). She is a frequent finalist in major national art prizes. Tanya was educated at Oxford University, London’s Chelsea School of Art and COFA at the University of NSW, where she completed a Masters in Painting. Tanya is an experienced art educator and teaches classes and workshops in watercolour painting at a number of institutions and art schools.