Pure Watercolour (Stage 2)

This exciting new course offers a relaxed hands-on approach to the world of watercolour that’s ideal for anyone looking to build on their existing drawing skills and become a well-rounded and more confident watercolour artist.

Please note, new dates for this course will be confirmed in April. If you'd like to be the first to know when this course is available to book, simply click the 'Register Your Interest' button and provide your details.

Course details

This course will be taught in three blocks, each consisting of five weeks, to allow you time to develop your watercolour skills and in turn your confidence, bringing together painting techniques, observational drawing and colour theory. By the end of the course, you’ll have developed a firm understanding of a variety of watercolour techniques and tapped into your own personal style.

Throughout, you’ll be encouraged to be both personal and expressive in your work. As well as working in the group setting, you’ll also be supported and encouraged by your tutor on an individual basis with feedback and suggestions to support and encourage your progress.

Block one – 5 weeks

The first five weeks of this course will consist of creating solid watercolour foundations, to prepare you for projects later in the course.

You’ll cover basic techniques including loading your brush, mark making, and consistency of paint. You’ll also explore how to use different washes and how the paint can be manipulated on different types of paper. Colour theory and colour mixing will also be covered so when you come to undertake your first project at the end of this block you have all the tools you need to get stuck in.

Block two – 5 weeks

The next five weeks will consolidate your basic skills and guide you to develop different styles of painting. This will include loose painting, illustration, experimental and abstract, to name but a few.

You’ll explore a variety of different subjects, including landscape, skies, the natural environment, and urban settings as well as experimental abstract work.

Block three – 5 weeks

The final five weeks of the course will cover more advanced watercolour techniques, allowing you to build on your basic skills to become a well-rounded painter.

You’ll undertake more finessed techniques and subject matter, such as the human figure, faces and skin colour and tone. You’ll also explore movement and how the fluidity of watercolour can be used to depict subjects in motion and demonstrate perspective.

Experienced guidance from an artist specialising in watercolour
Learning to see and paint the world around you
Developing skills with watercolour to create lively images through expressive use of line and mark making
Tone, contrast, textures, colour, and form
Capturing movement and perspective
Advanced techniques to approach more complex subjects such as faces and figurines
Experimentation with different painting styles and a variety of subjects from which you can draw inspiration

The course aims to:

Enable you to gain confidence in your painting and observational skills
Experiment and develop ideas discovering new approaches to creating
Learn and develop both basic and advanced watercolour techniques and apply them to your work to become a well-rounded painter

Find out more by clicking the profile below.

Alison Board

Alison is a highly talented, creative artist and dedicated educator, whose many diverse talents include dance, performance, and fine art.

You’ll feel confident approaching watercolour painting using a range of techniques
Group share of paintings done at the end of each session with the intention to support, inspire, and encourage each other's learning
During the course, students will produce a portfolio of experimental and finished watercolour works
All students with 100% course attendance will be issued with an official AUB Short Course certificate of attendance. To request your certificate get in touch with the course team at shortcourses@aub.ac.uk

Ideally, you’ll have some prior experience drawing or sketching and now want to broaden your skills to work in watercolour. No previous experience using watercolours is necessary. Suitable for creatives aged 18+.