Sketch & Paint Watercolor One Day Workshop-December 13

  This event has finished

Snowy Winter Watercolor Greeting Cards

Join us Dec. 13, 2023 at 6:30pm PST

Ready to have a fun hour or two with other creatives painting watercolor? We had a great time last year so let’s do it again! Live online and interactive.

Join me from the comfort of your own home on Wednesday, Dec 13 at 6:30pm PST

Paint along, ask questions about watercolor materials, methods, etc. Get some unique tips and hacks from experienced artists.

Wednesday, December 13

6:30 PM – 8:30 PM PST

Live from Michele’s NW Studio via Zoom

All levels,  Ages 14 through adult

Tuition: $45 for a 2hr. class on Zoom, replays available 

Payable by Zelle, check 

Message me on my Instagram/Facebook or email me (michelec12@gmail.com) with YOUR NAME AND EMAIL to get access to our live interactive watercolor workshop on Zoom.

Sketching
What’s your favorite water soluble ink?

What’s next?

After I receive your tuition, name and email address, I will send you preliminary instructions and handouts.

I will send you the Zoom link a few days before each Wednesday, 6:30pm PST, (December 13 and/or January 3)

You will need:

A stable Wi-Fi connection 

A laptop with webcam, tablet or smart phone

Optional: AirPods, headset

About 5 minutes early each Wednesday, you may join the Zoom meeting. I will let you in from the waiting room. Make sure your video is on and your audio is off until you want to speak. Smile and wave to greet your art friends. Text where you’re from in the Chat.

For approximately the next two hours:

1. Enjoy the demonstrations by Michele
2. Paint along (have paper, paint, brushes and water ready)
3. Ask questions about watercolor
4. Try using a water brush. Pentel Japan Aquash Water-Brush set of 3 types   https://a.co/d/5NhBF0d

If you want to paint along you will need:

Two pieces of paper, one mixed media and one 140# CP watercolor 

Water soluble  Ink—either a fountain pen, dip pen, or office type pen

Watercolor paints and brushes (see #4 above)

Just use what you already have. Here are some options. 

My Instagram 

https://www.instagram.com/michelecooperart

My Facebook page 

https://www.facebook.com/ArtMicheleCooper

Can’t wait to see you soon !

Fall Schedule for Weekly Watercolor Classes, 2019

After enjoying a summer full of family and art adventures of my own, I am excited to share more new watercolor adventures with students in my weekly classes.

Fall Schedule 2019:

Stanwood/Camano Island: Watercolor, All Levels
A Guilded Gallery
10/24 - 11/21---------5 weeks
Thursdays, 10am - 1:00pm
Register online or Call to register:  (360) 629-2787

Kirkland, WA: Intermediate Watercolor

Kirkland Arts Center
9/27 - 11/15-------8 weeks
Fridays: 10am - 1:00pm
Register online or Call to register: (425) 822-7161
Email: info@kirklandartscenter.org

Kirkland, WA: Introduction to Watercolor Workshop - Beginning Level

Kirkland Arts Center
11/16 - 11/17------2 days
Saturday and Sunday: 10am - 4pm
Register online or Call to register: (425) 822-7161
Email: info@kirklandartscenter.org 

Skagit Valley College - Mt. Vernon, WA

Watercolor Painting - All Levels
9/25 - 11/13 -------8 weeks
Wednesday Evenings: 6pm - 9pm
Register online or Call to register: 360.416.7638
Info:  email Courianne.Williams@skagit.edu

Palette Layout and Colors
(Please email michelec12@gmail.com for current layout and colors)

Materials List

Holy Smoke! Intrepid Sketchers make their First Steps Into VisualJournaling, a 10x10 USK Workshop

Saturday, August 25

Seattle wasn't its usual bustling self with sidewalks and parks full of locals and tourists enjoying the last weekend in August. Unhealthy air quality caused by smoke from wildfires burning in Canada and multiple states has taken its toll on all outdoor activities for the past few weeks. Air quality announcements advise people at risk to stay indoors. How would this work out for beginning students coming to my USK 10x10 First Steps Into Visual Journaling Workshop?

I handed out badges and pencils as my full class arrived. We loaded up on coffee, quiche and breakfast goodies from the Grand Central Bakery and pulled up our seats at the long wooden table in the Arcade. I had planned for everyone to start the day with some quick warm up exercises. We covered materials, lettering, simple figures, how to use watercolor pencils with or without pens, and more!

Warm up exercises and getting to know our materials

Many of my students were healthy enough to brave the unhealthy air for just a 10 minute dash out into the square for some first steps in sketching figures. They were practicing my patented 6-stroke method!

 
In my bag was a packet of handouts with illustrations on brick buildings and alleyways.

I had planned to go out onto the cobbled square with my students around noon for a demonstration and assignment but the air quality app I was using was in the orange zone; hazardous, limit outdoor activity, no strenuous exercise!

I stepped out of the big glass doors onto 1st Ave S. to check on the visibility and smoke factor for myself. As you can see, there was so much haze that things started fading out only a block or two away. There were so few people in this usually busy Seattle tourist area that you would never know that it was a summer weekend in August. Even Occidental Square had few people other than a food line provided by local charities for the homeless.

So it was on to plan "B". Just in case we were smoked out, I had a digital handout ready. I sent step by step instructions to everyone's smart phones illustrating how to take the first steps into drawing and painting cars. I call it Cars: Inside the box. I demonstrated each step. Carefully avoiding the "P" word (perspective) the approach is to draw and connect simple shapes. Everyone amazed themselves with their results. You can see how well they've done when you see the "throw down"  below.

I asked everyone to share their favorite sketches of the day on the old wood bench in he Arcade.

Intrepid new urban sketchers meeting the challenge safe inside the Grand Central Arcade

Thanks to my fantastic students and everyone at the Grand Central Building for accommodating the weather situation. I loved sharing some tips and techniques with this group and can't wait to see you at the next USk Seattle outing! You have what it takes to be an urban sketcher wherever you go! You took off smokin'!

Thanks also to Tina Koyama, who popped in to cover this event for Seattle Urban Sketchers blog.

Ready for my USK 10x10 Students

I’m ready for my students in Seattle for the new USK 10x10 Spring series of urban sketching workshops. My class is sold out but those on the waiting list have priority for registration for my next one August 25. Meanwhile, here’s a peek at a few perks for you students who are ready to take your “First Steps into Visual Journaling”. See you soon!

Intro to Watercolor weekend was a blast!

This was our classroom at the end of the Spring Introduction to Watercolor Workshop at Kirkland Arts Center this weekend. What a lovely bunch of brand new watercolorists!

Winner! Congratulations to Melania for winning one of my original watercolor greeting cards fresh off the demonstration board this afternoon!

Watercolor Workshop for Absolute Beginners, Sat and Sun Oct 28 & 29

Follow this link for more information or to register

Not sure if watercolor is for you? Tried watercolor but need a little help? Gotten rusty and want to revive some old skills in watercolor? Come on over to Kirkland Arts Center next weekend and have some fun discovering what an expressive medium it is with Michele Cooper, NWWS!

You don't even need to purchase an expensive collection of supplies! Get unlimited use of all supplies from the instructor for $10 per person per day. Take home the art you make.

Take home your own painting of Autumn leaves.

This hands-on workshop presents all the basics for the first-time watercolor painter or a great review of color mixing, brushwork, and painting techniques for the out-of-practice painter. You'll learn how to set up your work area and arrange your palette. We'll discuss different types of paint, brushes, and paper. You'll get to compare student and professional grade paint, cold and hot press paper, and different types of brushes. Learn how to do dry brush, wet in wet, flat washes, and graduated washes.

Discover how to mix and layer colors and how to mix a complete color wheel from just three colors. Continuous hands-on demonstrations will show techniques first hand.

Education Office

(425) 822-7161 x181

 

Sat, October 28, 2017

   10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Sun, October 29, 2017

   10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

 

Summer Workshop Photos

It's been the busiest summer I've had in a long time! I'm finally able to begin catching up on correspondence and share a few of my art adventures with you.

Here's an overview of a day at one of my Urban Sketching Workshops at Skagit Valley College this summer. What a great day we had, sketching out there together! 

Class Schedule: Day 1, Saturday 

Intro, handouts

2 take home sketchbooks, fold and cut

Practice sketching indoors, outside on campus

11:05 bus to Skagit Station-sketching on bus

Walk to Tri-Dee (use mid-day break to pick up any materials you might need)

Group Photo taken next to the mural at Tri-Dee

Farmers Market Lunch and Demo 12:00-1:30

Class paint until 2:30

Share sketchbooks

Ink wash demo 

Return bus sketching 

Share sketchbooks

Urban Sketching Workshop Announcement

I will be teaching two new Intro to Urban Sketching workshops through Skagit Valley College this summer. Locations for sketching will be different on each day of each workshop. All levels of ability and experience are welcome.

Call 360-416-7638     More info online here. Click Summer.

Blog readers' bonus! In addition to four fun days of learning to develop your urban sketching skills, here's a Special gift for those who sign up for both workshops! See details below!

Imagine how amazing your sketching pens, pencils and brushes will look in this faux leather pouch! Sign up for both summer workshops and it's yours!

Don Colley Workshop

Kate watching Don Colley illustrating people drawing through his sketchbooks.

I had a rare opportunity to be a student today at the Don Colley Workshop. We gathered this morning in the classroom at Daniel Smith, Inc.

But FIRST!! Look at the swag we got from Faber-Castell!

Thank you, Faber-Castell and Dan Smith, Inc. for the generous box of drawing stuff!

Don started us out with pages from his sketchbooks, demonstrating some fascinating techniques he uses with Faber-Castell marking pens. Check out his masterful technique through his video demonstrations here. Then we moved outdoors, to Alki Beach. Brrrrr!

Don teaching at Alki Beach.

I walked a ways down the sidewalk and saw two brave guys from the Fruit Chatter Box Food Truck who were setting up on the beach. I did my sketch while they set up and they took a photo of it when I was done!

 

I am told that as long as your head and chest are bundled up you can go ahead and wear your shorts, no problem!

It's 12:15 and our teeth are chattering by now, so we all walked down the avenue to Pegasus Pizza & Pasta for lunch. They fixed us right up, with delicious food and great service all at a big long table. Don decided to illustrate some basic measurements on the human head......his head!

Not forgetting about the Seahawks game that we were all missing, Don puts on his game face.

Back out for afternoon drawing on the beach! I had gotten accustomed to being warm during lunch and it seemed that the wind chill factor had inhumanely increased and whitecaps were really kicking up now. I couldn't believe that some people wore shorts and light shirts out there!

All the workshop participants had multiple layers on, but Tina and I still opted for another indoor venue.We got a nice hot coffee and a cinnamon roll to share at the iconic Top Pot Donuts. Ahhhh, bliss! Nothing better than being out on a sunny, albeit chilly, fall day, on or near the beach, learning something new!

Our instructor came in out of the cold eventually and he drew Tina and I while we were sketching.

See more of Don's sketches from today post workshop here. 

Tina's cup of hot coffee, our yummy cinnamon roll, one of the coffee pots displayed on the bookshelf wall at Top Pot Donuts and a 5 minute sketch of a customer from our pizza lunch. Oh, and finishing off the day with a little art supply shopping back at the "mother ship"!

Note: These are the raw sketches from our day at Alki. It will take me some time to try out all the new tools and techniques I learned today. When I do, I'll post them up and share my thoughts about working with all my new stuff.

Amanda, five-minute sketch

We were at the market on a very busy weekend day, we were in a workshop being instructed by Gabi Companario, we were given just five minutes to do a live figure study and the time starts now!

 

This was my 5 minute sketch done on location at Pike Place Market, just inside the flower stalls. Amanda, a fellow workshop participant, was in a hurry and got tangled and twisted with her shoulder bag and jacket. I was struck by the similarities and comparisons of the girl, the bucket of paper wrapped flowers and the column. Sort of a transition of static to lively, masculine to feminine, and all "wrapped" around in a way. 

Since my drawing was only allowed 5 minutes' time, I felt it only fair to do the color in equal time.  It's not meant to be a finished piece, obviously, but I feel I caught the wrapped up quality of the moment. 

USk Workshop at SAM and Pike Place Market

My friend, Judy, and I attended a fantastic workshop today: The Urban Sketchers Workshop in partnership with the Seattle Art Museum. The event is tied to the exhibit Modernism in the Pacific Northwest featuring the work of the late Seattle artist Mark Tobey and other leading figures of the modern art movement that took place in the Northwest in the late 1930s and 1940s.

The workshop began with a tour of the exhibit, then lunch followed by a hands-on field sketching session at Pike Place Market led by Urban Sketchers instructors Gabriel Campanario, Frank Ching and Gail Wong. During the workshop, participants gained valuable sketching tips to draw on location —from perspective and composition to figure drawing basics— and channelled Tobey's spirit of sketching at the market.

Sketchbook sponsors: Stillman & Birn.
Pencils and 66 Watercolor "Try it Color sheets": Daniel Smith

Gail Wong, Frank Chin, and Gabriel Campanario were our Instructors.

We were divided into three groups and then rotated among the locations where each instructor gave their part of the program.

This was the plan. 

Yesterday's "class portrait"--Autumn Leaves

We filled a whole table top with autumn leaves at my Intro to Watercolor II workshop at Kirkland Arts Center yesterday. 

We had so much fun, one more workshop has been added for 2013. It's called a "Pop Up" workshop, somewhat on the order of "pop up restaurants". It's not on the regular catalog, but if we have a minimum enrollment, we can do it. It would be held on Sunday, Dec 1, 2013 from 10-4 at Kirkland Arts Center.

Designed for absolute beginners, no previous experience necessary, all materials provided.

Want to come? Please email me: michele at michelecooper dot com for more information, price, etc.

See previous workshop description here.