A six week introduction to painting, focusing on Watercolours, with Kirstin White
- Tutor, Kirstin White
- April 23rd, 30th, May 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th
- 10am – 12.00
- £150/6 classes
- This course will be delivered via ZOOM. You will be sent an access code before the first class
- The course will be recorded and after class the recording will be sent to you
All our April and May Zoom classes are recorded, and we send access codes to students to use in conjunction with the classes. This has proved to be a popular addition to ZOOMing.
In addition, all of the online courses have dedicated WhatsApp groups for easy sharing of images, support and encouragement. We hope you all enjoy these useful additions. The WhatsApp groups and access to the videos close 2 weeks after the course finishes.

What to expect on ‘Starting Watercolour Painting’
This beginners’ watercolour painting course teaches you the basics in six-weeks. You will learn how best to use your chosen medium of watercolour. The course consists of an intense and prescriptive series of exercises, which will be explained and demonstrated to you by your experienced tutor, Kirstin White. She will teach the course with reference to masters of watercolour painting whose work will excite and inspire.
Carefully designed to get you up and running as an artist, the beginners’ course will build both your skill and your confidence.

You will be taught about:
- shape,
- tone,
- colour,
- textures,
- washes,
- mark making and more.
With the basics clearly understood and assimilated, Kirstin intends that you complete the six weeks feeling ready to start creatively applying what you have learnt.
In a subsequent course you will want to begin producing pictures and Kirstin White is ready guide and encourage you through that stage of becoming a more individual artist, too. Since the beginners’ watercolour painting course teaches something of the craft of picture making, it is an extremely useful springboard towards becoming expressive as an artist, whether using watercolour or any other media.
Materials & Equipment
Paint
Winsor and Newton Artists’ Watercolour Tubes in three colours:
- Winsor Yellow
- Permanent Rose
- Winsor Blue (GreenShade)
Please do not substitute professional quality with Winsor and Newton’s student brand, ‘Cotman’.
Brushes
Round, watercolour brushes. Natural hair brushes are best as they absorb water and lift out better than synthetic fibres.
SIZE: Number 12.
Among the many products that you may want to choose from are: –
Rosemary Brushes, Series 99: https://www.rosemaryandco.com/watercolour-brushes/pointed-pure-red-sable
Ken Bromley, Ken Bromley Value Sable: https://www.artsupplies.co.uk/brushes-ken-bromley-sable-watercolour-brush.htm
Paper
140lb / 300gsm, NOT surface, around A3, or slightly smaller 10 x 14 inches, in size.
Pads that are gummed all around are good as they minimise cockling of the paper. Single sheets, spiral bound pads or pads gummed on one edge only are also fine. Arches and Saunders are good brands. For six-week beginners’ courses, I sometimes use cheaper and more readily available brands such as Hahnemuhle, or Langton, or Bockingford.
Please DO NOT buy Crimson and Black, WHS or other cheap paper brands! You will not be able to complete the exercises on these inferior surfaces.
Other sundries
- A plastic palette, daisy well, for mixing washes.
- Empty pans into which to squeeze your colours.
- A tin in which to store your pans of squeezed colours (non-essentilal).
- Loo roll or kitchen roll.
- A 6B and/or a 2B pencil.
- An eraser (on watercolour paper, slightly gritty ones work better than plastic ones).
- A pencil sharpener or pencil sharpening knife
- roll of masking tape.