Watercolour Lessons with Angela Fehr: Recap & Schedule

My winter 2013 watercolour classes ended last night. We had a small group this January-March, just three students, and it was so much fun! I enjoy teaching watercolour more and more and it is important to me to create a relaxed, positive environment in which to learn. Eight weeks goes by quickly, but we got a lot done. The first class is a little intimidating for a new painter, so instead of launching into a "serious" painting, we did some loose, wet sketching.

This is a good way to introduce colour mixing and my theory of watercolourtivity: <W = <m (more water equals more motion) I'm like the Einstein of watercolour!

In our second and third classes we worked on a more controlled floral, my classic sunflower:

We use the same sketch to create a lovely sunflower portrait. It is always exciting for the students to see a "real painting" take shape! Working step by step breaks down a complex subject into manageable pieces, while giving real instruction on technique, colour theory and just getting familiar with the medium.

Then we moved on to landscape:

This is actually from my fall classes; I don't have an image of the class demo from this year. Sometimes I use my in-class paintings to give additional demonstrations - showing several ways to paint clouds, for example, and my demo painting is more for hands-on demonstration than exhibition, if that makes sense.

For our final painting together I asked for requests and the ladies agreed they'd like to paint saskatoon berries. One of my favourite subjects so I needed no persuasion! Each student interpreted the reference photo from a different angle, and it was exciting to see their strengths and style appear through the process.

I'll be starting another watercolour class series in just a couple of weeks, on April 4th, and for eight Thursday nights, 7-9pm, will be exploring the beautiful medium of watercolour in my home studio, ten minutes east of Dawson Creek, British Columbia. Cost for the class is $250 (and I offer a student rate to teens and college students) with an additional materials fee of $75, which will provide you with a palette filled with my favourite colours, brushes, and artist quality watercolour paper. Please contact me for more information by emailing me or phoning (250)786-5562.