johnsontheartist.com

I painted my first professional watercolor in 1985. At the time I was making a living as a commercial illustrator so I had to learn watercolors on the fly, and that's OK, but that's not the best way to learn. If I could do it all over again, this is how I would do it.

DAY ONE

Today we are going to use only the primary colors, red, blue and yellow.

Project 1 / Shapes

We are going to fill our paper with simple flat shapes of color (squares and rectangles will be fine).

On your pallet, mix the most beautiful colors you can using the three primary colors and make your first rectangular puddle. Then mix another color and lay it down next to the first shape and let the colors run together. Then mix another color and lay it down so that the colors flow into one another. And so on until the page is filled. That basically is the beauty of watercolor.

Project 2 / Apple

Paint an apple setting on a white surface with a white background.

We will use all three primary colors and allow the colors to run together.

Project 3 / Banana

Paint a banana setting on a white surface with a white background.

We will use all three of our colors and allow the colors to run together.

Project 4 / Green Pepper

Paint a green pepper setting on a white surface with a white background.

We will use all three of our colors and allow the colors to run together.

DAY TWO

We will add the three secondary colors to our pallet of primary colors for our second day.

Green, purple, orange.

Project 1 / Shapes

We are going to fill the paper with simple flat shapes of color. On your pallet, mix the most beautiful colors you can using the six colors on your pallet and make your first puddle. Then mix another color and lay it down next to the first shape and let the colors run together. Then mix another color and lay it down so that the colors flow into one another. And so on until the page is filled.

Project 2 / Composition

I will make a composition using the apple, the banana and the pepper sitting on a white surface with a white background. Try to use all six colors somewhere in the composition and allow the colors to flow together.

Project 3 / Composition with background

Same thing only I will add a color background and a colored surface.

At days end I will do a brief critique of our work.