This is a short course that takes you through the creative steps of completing a painting. Barbara Luel starts with the drawing and, interestingly, adds the shadows before even introducing the watercolours. I found this approach really interesting, as it gives the drawing a strong sense of volume and structure from the beginning. The final touches are made with coloured pencils, something that really appeals to me in my own drawings but that I’m never quite sure how to use effectively. It was useful to see how she combines pencils and watercolour without making the drawing feel too heavy or overworked. A short but very inspiring course, with some lovely ideas to try in my own sketches.
“We need to add some dark shadows to make it really sunny. If you want a lot of sun in your sketch, you have to make dark shadows, which means use a lot of pigment and not too much water.”