Follow the lessons and work on completing the drills and painting exercises! Leave your pencil in the drawer, because you'll be skipping the drawing in no time!

Create Your Class Project:

Play around with your brushes to see what unusual brush marks they make or control limits they each have.
Try your hand at suggesting the form of an object or scene nearby by joining those brush marks together in interesting ways.
Find some scenes or subjects that may be great candidates for sketching from life. You can do the painting exercises by painting anything anywhere. I offer tips for indoor and outdoor scenarios, whether you’re in front of a waterfall, a window, or a bowl of fruit.
Try each of the painting approach strategies, Choosing a Focus, Big to Little, and Layering, with subjects in front of you. Explore a different subject (or the same subject!) each lesson to see how each strategy works best.
Evaluate your sketches when you’re done.
- How well did each method work for the subject you chose?
- Did you get caught up anywhere?
- Is there anything you can practice or change for next time to make it easier/better?
- When did you enjoy it the most?
Share your work and experience in the Project Gallery!
Go now and try the various methods with new subjects or brushes to expand your knowledge and improve!

I can’t wait to see your paintings in the Gallery!

Tips to make your project shine:

Are you a complete beginner? I recommend getting the hang of watercolor washes and water control first. Check out the Watercolor Techniques lessons inside The Value of Monochrome: Paint a Watercolor Still-Life with Just One Color.
Don't feel pressured to whip out every brush in your collection! Try and explore just a few at first to keep the exercise manageable.
Try giving yourself a sort of limit when learning to "suggest" objects to push your expressiveness out of its comfort zone. Try Limiting:
- Exercise time
- How many brushstrokes you use
- Colors
Choose subjects or scenes for your project that match your experience level, starting with simple and moving on to complex objects as you grow. When in doubt I always recommend fruit and vegetables.
I HIGHLY suggest using objects in front of you, but if you're practicing somewhere there just isn't anything to paint (or that's interesting), I've included a sheet of my reference photos in the workbook. You can find this in the Resources section to the right.
Remember that the point of the class is to incorporate direct painting into your life and supplies, so there isn't exact step-by-step guidance on painting these specific subjects, focus instead on the mindset and structure I lay out to guide your own decisions.
Stagger the painting strategies over a few days to let yourself take your time and process the difference approaches. Tired artists become lazy artists, which quickly turn into frustrated artists.
Embrace note taking to remember what you pick up along the class! To learn about taking notes in your sketchbook, check out my first Skillshare class Problem Solving in Your Sketchbook.
Don't forget! If you get stuck or need help, take advantage of the worksheets in the resources section or ask me a question in the discussion forum!

Grishma A

--

5