SKIES IN WATERCOLOR – A DIRECT METHOD

Materials List:
Please take time to read the following carefully and bring with you whatever ‘best fit’ you can obtain for the following:

Two blues and two ‘earthy reds’/browns. TUBE PAINTS, not pans. Student quality is fine.
A warm and a cool of each should allow you to find colour mixes that you like, though even this is not especially necessary for the two hours of the workshop.
Jem will be using his usual: Winsor & Newton Artist Quality: Winsor Blue (Red shade), French Ultramarine, Indian Red and Light Red.
We will begin our exercises using just two of the four colours. (You might like to test out your colour choice before the workshop. What you are aiming for is a blue and browny-red combination that allows you a reasonably convincing cloud ‘grey’ colour. Many possible combinations will allow for this.)

BRUSHES (made for watercolour, not other mediums)
At least one ‘Wash’ brush, medium/large.
Many types can be fine, but a large natural hair is good. (For info, Jem uses the squirrel hair quill ‘mop’ type.)
A least one medium/large size synthetic ‘Round’ brush with a good point (size 12 – 18 approximately, but sizes can vary a lot between brands which makes it difficult for me to describe this to you exactly).
This is the minimum requirement in terms of brushes. More/other watercolour brushes could be useful in addition. Bring all you have if that’s easy, so you have a choice and can hopefully arrive at the best sizes as we go along, though SMALL brushes will be little use.

Large (the larger the better) watercolour palette, ideally with several separate (large-ish!) mixing areas. Small spaces are a hindrance and should be avoided. One very large open space can also work fine.

PAPER
Plenty of paper! Either cold-pressed/’Not’ or Rough. Minimum of 300g/140lb weight.
Watercolour paper types can differ hugely, which is always an issue.
Jem uses a wood pulp-based (i.e. not cotton) paper, specifically the brand ‘Bockingford’, cold-pressed (usually 425g/200lb weight) by St Cuthbert’s Mill.
Cotton papers can be used, but it is a fact that different papers will give substantially differing results and require different ‘timing’ to what you will see demonstrated. Therefore if you are able to obtain the paper Jem uses, or similar, it should be helpful to you.

Size is not dictated, but you will want some small (very approximately 6 x 8 inch) sheets (or larger sheets divided up into sections is absolutely fine). And some others about twice this size, and possibly a couple of sheets larger than that if you are accustomed to working quite large, and have large brushes.
Jem advises not working very large (in your own terms) for these exercises as they become substantially harder the larger you go, with no real benefit! But you do want a bit of a range, allowing you to try larger as we go along.

If possible and to help us keep to time well during the workshop, please pre-prepare at least a couple of sheets, taped down to board/s along two edges of the paper at least, with masking tape or similar.
At the smallest size, paper within pads is okay, but in general it is best to remove larger sheets and tape them down so that they do not buckle and curl up once wetted.
Jem usually uses the self-adhesive brown ‘craft’ or ‘framer’s tape’ but masking tape is fine.
For larger sheets do tape along all four sides.

Jem will be demonstrating at between approx. eighth and quarter imperial size mostly, and even smaller for the first few quick exercises.

We want to have our board at a slight angle; between approx. 10 and 30 degrees. So have something to prop up your board, or use a desk easel if you have one.

Finally:

Absorbent rag or cloth for drying brush.
Toilet or kitchen roll for mopping up mishaps – or also for the above.
Soft pencil, eraser
Two water pots or jars; one for dirty, one for clean.