Watercolour & Ink – Botanicals

Watercolour and ink work well together. Explore their diversity and compatibility while drawing and painting leaves, flowers and still life.

Create a series of works that will include Australian native plants, non-native plants and flowers.

You will learn some initial drawing and composition skills, both loose and formal, and the characteristics of watercolour paint. Activities will vary the use of pencil, pen, ink and watercolour.

This course uses a relaxed method that allows you to improve your ability to look at the artistic possibilities in your local environment. Students will be encouraged to seek out their own preferred approach to their future art work.

Enrol
  • Full days - Monday to Friday - 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
  • Suitable for ages 16 to adult
  • Beginner, Intermediate
  • Join waiting list

Course Info

Suzi will demonstrate techniques used by artists to obtain loose creative effects as well as more detailed studies. This class would suit people who have experience with watercolour and want to improve their knowledge, but beginners will receive plenty of support.

Some some new and interesting methods will be introduced including the basics of watercolour and ink through demonstrations and fun activities. You will work  on a variety of different paintings. There will be discussion on the use of a smaller number of high-quality paints and  papers and which ones will make your work look professional and beautiful.

Some of the activities will include loose floral work in ink, semi-abstract eucalypt leaves, line and wash with still life and botanical studies of your own subject.

You will find out lots of tricks and tips used by artists, how to add light and layering to enhance your paintings and use ink as a finish for some of your work.

These are just SOME of the activities we will be doing:

DAY 1. Exercises to get familiar with materials and techniques.

Talking paints, inks and paper

Stretching paper

Painting a wash

Perspective of plants

Colour mixing

Loose flowers

DAY 2.

TECHNIQUES eg Hard and soft edge, Lifting out, Wet on wet, Masking etc

Choosing a composition – Transferring drawings

A botanical study

Pen and wash

Loose leaves

More accurate drawings

DAYS 3-5

Choosing your subject

A larger botanical painting of your choice on stretched paper, with lots of support and assistance

and various relevant fun activities in between.

Students with some experience with watercolour and a desire to further their knowledge would benefit from this class, but beginners will also find plenty of support.

Please bring the following on your first day of class:

  • Good quality A4 sketch book
  • At least 5 x A4 or larger sheets of good quality watercolour paper, 225 gsm or thicker – (eg Arches, Bockingford, Saunders, Fabriano etc) One large sheet can be divided. Poor quality paper will give very poor results.
  • Round watercolour brush size 12-14 (this also needs to be of good quality)
  • Small watercolour brush with a fine point
  • Watercolour mop (this is a large soft brush for washes)
  • Ink pen with a soft nib as sharp nibs scratch the paper (an old fountain pen works well)
  • A bottle of black Quink, not Indian ink. Available from Officeworks. (approx. $12)
  • Five small tubes of watercolour paint: (If you have other colours please bring them)
    • Aureolin Yellow (mid yellow)
    • Cadmium Red (Warm red)
    • Alizarin Crimson (Cool red)
    • Phthalo Blue (Cool blue)
    • Ultramarine Blue (Warm blue)

(Other handy colours (but NOT necessary) are Burnt Sienna, Viridian, Quinacridone Gold and Indigo) Good artists’ brands are Windsor and Newton, Schminke or Neil Smith. Art Spectrum are good value. Officeworks sell an inexpensive Staedtler set.

  • Palette – with a blob of each of your five colours on it. (Dried)
  • HB and 2B pencils, eraser, ruler, sharpener. 2 water containers, paper towel, masking tape, scissors. A small cotton or canvas drop sheet or old tablecloth, not plastic please.
  • One or two small Australian native branches, leaves or seeds. Any other plant you’d like to paint, but not big showy flowers as they wilt too quickly.

Happy Camper Reviews

Our tutor Suzie was very knowledgeable and had planned the week out. She communicated this to us so we knew what was going on. She introduced herslf at the start and each participant did likewise and in a short period of time formed a good group of painters in a relaxed atmosphere. I learnt alot and it was good to get the watercolours out again and experiment with a few different techniques. I really enjoyed the course.
Suzi Zglinicki
Course Tutor

Suzi Zglinicki

Suzi Zglinicki is an artist who lives on the Mid-North Coast of NSW, exhibiting regularly in both Newcastle and Sydney since 2012.

Her semi-abstract artworks are produced in a variety of media and often feature the natural world. In addition to a Bachelor of Education Suzi has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) and a Master of Fine Art from the National Art School in Sydney; and a PhD, Fine Art from the University of Newcastle. Her work is held in private collections across NSW and by the National Art School and the University of Newcastle.

Suzi uses oils, pastels, acrylics, ink and mixed media to create landscapes, portraits, and semi-abstract works. She is both a trained teacher and a professional artist.

Suzi has taught art for teens and adults over the last five years in Newcastle and currently teaches from her studio on the mid-north Coast of NSW.