Nicole’s art adventure started in 2009 in the USA when she signed up for her first watercolour class. She was immediately hooked and very quickly became a passionate plein air painter with a focus on watercolour journalling. Further study in the USA and New Zealand had a strong focus on drawing and watercolour painting.

Since 2017 Nicole has been teaching art classes in her studio and outdoors. She was part of the community education program of Waimea College.

In her community she has been organising a weekly plein air painting group since 2018. Nicole is currently a member of the Mapua Art Group, Watercolour New Zealand, The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts and The Art Group Nelson. She is an award winning artist with her paintings permanently on display at Wall to Wall Art Gallery Nelson.

Watercolour and oils are Nicole’s favourite media and plein air painting is still her passion.

www.nicolerussellart.com

Course outline

This workshop will focus on important parts of painting beautiful landscapes with watercolours. Each day will cover different aspects. We will slowly ease into the subject by understanding the medium, practising various watercolour techniques and practising the

different stages of landscape painting. Next we will discuss atmospheric perspective before going into guidelines on how to paint trees, grasses and skies. You will learn tips and tricks on

painting buildings (linear perspective) as well as people and animals, i.e. sheep, cows and chickens. Plein air painting (painting on location, outdoors) is a fun part of the curriculum, however weather dependent. Finally we will look at painting water and waves. And of course you will explore composition and colour mixing. 

Each day will start with exercises which will be demonstrated before you go into your own practice. In the afternoon you can choose your own subject and work on it with tutored guidance.

This is a social class where having fun, meeting like-minded people and developing friendships is an important part. Nicole is known for her friendly and supportive teaching style which encourages her students to reach the next level.

This workshop is suitable for all levels.

The following daily curriculum is a basic outline.

Day 1

Introduction

Materials

Watercolour techniques

How to build up a beautiful landscape painting - planning your washes

Atmospheric perspective

Day 2

Colour mixing

Painting beautiful skies

Value studies

Composition

Day 3

Plein air painting

What colour is green?

Trees

Grasses

Day 4

Linear perspective

Water (Ocean, river, lake)

Reflections

Rocks

Day 5

People and animals

Sheep, cows, chickens

Material List 

These are the materials I use and have been very successful with: 

1. Watercolour Paper 

Arches, Fabriano, Hahnemühle, Saunders or a similarly well known brand. Whichever paper you get please make sure that it is 300gsm, 100% cotton, rough or cold pressed (NOT) 

If your paper does not state explicitly 100% cotton it will contain wood pulp, which will affect your painting (not in a good way). In fact, good quality watercolour paper is what I absolutely love insist on. Everything else (brushes, paint) can be of student quality. 

Approximately 20 sheets (maximum) of 1/2 sheet (38cm x 56cm) or 1/4 sheet (28cm x 38cm) or similar size (whichever you prefer or have available) Please note that your exercises and Yinal painting will be done on good quality paper. 

Please don’t bring inferior paper for your exercises. 

More advice on the amount of paper will come shortly before the beginning of the class. 

2. Watercolour Brushes 

This is a good selection: 

Short handled round brushes of various sizes (small, middle, large) 

Rigger (Liner) 

Flat (about 1cm or ½” wide) 

Hake brush (about 4cm wide) or a similar wide brush from your local hardware store for wetting the paper. 

These are brushes that I enjoy. However, they are pricey and cheaper synthetic watercolour brushes will do the trick too 

#4 da Vinci Casaneo 

#2 da Vinci Colineo 

#8 and #4 Squirrel Mop 

Sable, round, various sizes 

Hake, 4cm 

3. Watercolours 

Try to get the following colours – if you have others bring them along too. 

• Aureolin Yellow (cool) or lemon yellow (cool) 

• Cadmium Yellow (warm) 

• Alizarin Crimson (cool) 

• Cadmium Red (warm) 

• Cobalt Turquoise 

• Cobalt Blue (cool) 

• Ultramarine blue (warm) 

• Raw Sienna or Yellow Ochre 

• Burnt Sienna

• Raw Umber 

• Payne’s Grey or Ivory Black 

Don’t worry if you don’t have the exact colours. A prearranged set will do, too. Minimum student quality. Artist quality is better but also pricier. Winsor & Newton is great, Cotman and AquaYine Watercolours are good for beginners. They come in tubes. 

4. Palette If your colours come in tubes you need a palette with wells to squeeze out the paint and larger wells for mixing. A lid is recommended since it allows you to transport your colours and reactivate them with water again and again. Alternatively a white plate will do. 

5. 2 x Water Container 

6. Paper Towels 

7. Sponge Either a kitchen sponge, that can be ripped apart into rough pieces, or a natural sponge 

8. Pencil 2B 

9. Eraser Kneaded erasers are my favourite, since they can be shaped big and small, but any eraser will do. 

10. Ruler 

11. Masking Tape (blue, green or neutral colour) (Bunnings, Mitre10) 

12. Chux Magic Eraser (e.g. Countdown) 

13. Foldable chair or watercolour painting easel for plein air painting 

14. Backing bord to attach your watercolour paper to, e.g. plywood 

15. Sketchbook, notebook or paper for taking notes (optional). 

16. Spray bottle for spraying water. 

17. Masking Rluid. I’m typically not working with masking fluid. However, if you want to bring masking Yluid along please add a bar of soap to your materials. 

Please note that while watercolour materials may be pricey, cheap materials can be frustrating and a pain. The most important material is the paper. Don’t try to save money on it. The colours can be student grade as a minimum quality (Cotmans, AquaYine). Don’t go lower quality than that (e.g. Reeves is not recommended). Note, that while some materials are cheaper than others, they don’t last as long and need to be replaced quicker, which means that the “cheap” materials turn out to be more expensive in the long run, e.g. cheap brushes loose their shape and hair, cheap paint is full of Yiller and less pigment. 

Let me know if you have any questions and I’m happy to help. 

Nicole