Visual Arts Workshop
Virtual Watercolor Studio ~ Series 2
with Carolyn Gates
First Wednesday of the Month | 1:00-4:00pm
August 4| September 1 | October 6 | November 3
Tuition $180
via Zoom | link will be sent the day before class each week
Virtual Watercolor Studio with Carolyn Gates
The Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita announces the second series of Virtual Watercolor Studio, meeting once a month over Zoom and online, led by Carolyn Gates. Each month, participants will explore a new topic in watercolor and continue growing and developing skills.
Topics will continue to be varied, and over the next four months, August through November, we will explore texture, color, shadows, and light.
Our Virtual Watercolor Studio is on the first Wednesday afternoon of each month. We will spend some time learning about the month’s theme, perhaps have an exercise to try, and then spend the rest of the time painting. Students are given individual attention and help during the live session and later can review recorded demonstrations of each class.
Sessions are recorded and made available to you for a limited time if you miss the live class. In addition, all students have access to video demonstrations, examples, material lists, and tips and tricks residing in the entire course’s online segment. The online classroom is updated monthly with new information and includes a forum on which participants can upload photos of their pages, ask questions, give and receive feedback.
We look forward to building a watercolor community and improving skills as the months go along. Another four-month series will follow in 2022 when this series ends.
Materials List:
Any of these materials are easy to find online at:
Jerry’s Artarama
Dick Blick
Paper
140# Cold Press paper – This can be any 100% rag or cotton paper, such as Arches, Fabriano, or Fluid 100 (100% Cotton paper) You can buy it in full sheets (22” x 30”) or in blocks or pads. For each class you will need paper for at least one exercise and one painting. The size is up to you, but I recommend either an eighth of a sheet or a quarter sheet for class.
Sketch book
Bring your favorite sketchbook, to use for thumb nail sketches and planning ideas
Brushes
Bring any watercolor brushes you already have. Synthetic brushes are the least expensive, and you should get the best you can afford. One recommendation is Winsor Newton Sceptre Gold II for a Sable/Synthetic blend. Pure sable brushes are the best, but are the most expensive.
The minimum types of brushes I recommend are as follows:
No 12 round No 8 round No 4 round 1″ flat
1/2″ flat
Paint
Bring any transparent watercolor paints that you have (NOT Gouache or Acrylic). There may be specific colors that you will want to purchase as the class goes on.
The minimum suggested palette would consist of the following (examples in parentheses):
1-2 Yellows 1-2 Reds 1-2 Blues
1 Green
1 Violet 1 Brown 1 Black
(Aureolin OR Hansa Yellow, & Cadmium Yellow OR New Gamboge) (Cadmium Red OR Pyrrol Red & Permanent Alizarin Crimson OR Carmine,) (French Ultramarine OR Cobalt Blue & Prussian Blue OR Phthalo Blue) (Sap Green, Winsor Green (Yellow Shade), or Pthalo Green)
(Winsor Violet OR Dioxazine Violet OR Carbazole Violet)
(Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, or Sepia)
(Ivory Black, Payne’s Gray, or Neutral Tint)
Virtual Watercolor Studio– Hoffman Center for the Arts – Carolyn Gates – 2021
Other Supplies
Palette: to put your paint on, and mix colors. I recommend a plastic folding palette. HB Pencil
Kneaded eraser
2 plastic water containers (for example: empty yogurt containers)
Paper towels
Masking tape
Small spray bottle
Masking Fluid – I recommend Incredible White Mask Liquid Frisket (Note: Do not shake the bottle)
Photographs and Still Life Material
Throughout this class we will be working from either life or from photographs. There will be email reminders of anything specific that you need to bring to a particular class beyond your basic materials.
Carolyn Gates has been working in watercolor for the past 17 years, and although she works in colored pencil and pastel, watercolor is her main medium. She enjoys working with the unexpected results of mixing pigment with water on textured watercolor paper.
The qualities that characterize her work are strong color, and compositions that explore the relationships of shapes. This can make pleasing visual patterns that result in an abstraction of the subject. Her work investigates beauty, shape and color, and she hopes to discover the interplay between the ordinary and the extraordinary.
She currently teaches watercolor workshops for the Hoffman Center for the Arts, and has taught Watercolor Fundamentals at Maude Kerns Art Center
in Eugene since 2016. She enjoys teaching and is inspired by the work her students do. Her focus is teaching basic concepts, while encouraging each student to find their own voice.
Gates has studied studio art at MiraCosta College in Oceanside, California, and watercolor painting at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon. She has studied watercolor with Carol Carter, Satoko Motouji Kris Nugent, and Judy Morris. She is a member of the Watercolor Society of Oregon, and resides in Eugene.
For more information and to view her work, visit her website
