- Friday, 11 July 2025
- Saturday, 12 July 2025
About
Watercolor is the ultimate magical ‘in your pocket’ artistic medium for capturing the world around you with colour and dynamism. Watercolor is accessible, portable and achievable with the simplest of materials: water, colour and paper. Throughout this two-day summer school, we will experiment with different approaches and techniques to better understand and celebrate the unique characteristics and subtleties of watercolour and develop our own visual language.
Over the two days, participants will work in a variety of scales, from the small and portable, simulating the traditional watercolour sketch outside, to larger scale pieces that explore the sheer physicality of working with moving water and colour. Artist Jo Lewis will lead you in exploring different colour palettes to depict different areas and depths, as well as the tones and character of a particular place or idea. You will also examine the role that time itself plays when working in watercolour by working both fast or slowly.
In addition to working in the studio, we will also take inspiration directly from artists in our collection such as Claude, Degas, Constable, Corot and Turner, who painted with watercolours. We will consider many of the same issues that have preoccupied the artists of this medium for centuries, such as the interplay and contrast of light and dark to create space, depth and drama.
This summer school is designed for learners and artists of all levels. All materials are provided for the summer school, and you will take your artworks home with you. Handouts with extra resources will be provided as part of the summer school. All sessions will take place in our brand new, state-of-the-art Clore Art Studio in our Roden Centre for Creative Learning.
Learn more about our other Summer Schools in the Clore Art Studio.
Day 1: Getting to know watercolour
The first day will start with a series of simple exercises designed to acquaint you with watercolour and the many different ways it can be used to create a huge variety of marks and effects on different papers. Watercolour has a special capacity for luminosity, as the white paper is the source of light. Using not only brushes, we will experiment with scale, moving water, intensity of colour, and layering and pouring throughout the first day.
Later in the day, we will sketch in the galleries from artists for whom watercolour was an important part of their practice. Returning to the studio, we will create work inspired by their techniques and approaches.
Day 2: Further experiments and personal approaches
The second day will begin by focusing on colour. Starting with simple, yet profound colour mixing exercises, we will consider what makes a successful palette and spend time developing our own palettes and fine-tuning their application.
Time will be spent in the Gallery, drawing in a water soluble medium to inform and inspire our individual work. We will then create large scale pieces in the final studio session, while focusing on developing our own personal practice of watercolour, whether it is something you have done for years, or for the very first time.
Your tutor
Jo Lewis is a London based artist who works primarily with ink and watercolour on paper, and her work explores aspects of movement and stasis, and the fragility of the moment of interaction between pigment and paper. Recent series have been based around bodies of water and landscapes in Guangxi, the Rhône River and the River Thames.
Jo’s work has featured in exhibitions in both the UK and internationally. Recent solo shows include ‘Where two rivers meet’, Lyon and ‘Nearly not there, actually very’, London; recent group shows include The Trinity Buoy Wharf 2024 Drawing Prize, Galerie Papiers d’Art, Paris, and SEE Galerie, Paris. She was also invited to present her work at the Drawing Research Network Conference: ‘Temporal Drawing ’1, 2023 and at the Radical Drawing Symposium held by the University of Leeds Beckett in 2024.
Her work has been commissioned and collected by individuals and institutions globally including Hermès, Royal College of Music, 22 Bishopsgate, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Ashtead Hospital, Paris Baguette, Seoul, and the OWO Raffles Hotel, London.
Towards the blue: Watercolour painting summer school
- Friday, 11 July 2025
- Saturday, 12 July 2025
Tickets
This event is open for Members priority booking until Friday, 23 May 2025. Members please sign in to book.
Standard: £360
Concessions: £324
Please book a ticket to attend this course which will take place in the Roden Centre for Creative Learning.
Tickets include entry to the National Gallery. Please arrive in good time to access the building and find the event.
Bookings close 10 minutes before the event begins.
Concessions are for full-time students, jobseekers, and disabled adults.