I started learning watercolor painting from scratch back in January 2024. When I hit 100 completed watercolor classes on SkillShare in spring, I dedicated the milestone to Will Elliston because he was a major influence in my early learning journey. But I already knew back then who I would dedicate my 200th class to when I got here, and it was obvious that it would be to Krzysztof Kowalski, aka Chris!

Chris' classes have had a massive impact on me and my art journey. While many teach a looser, more impressionistic style of painting which I've struggled with (due to my inability to let go of control), the teacher that I feel is most like me in their style of painting, whose painting process I most identify with, is without a question, by far, Chris. He's like my "soul teacher". I feel a sense of belonging in his classes, he is very clearly a perfectionist and I love his attention to every little detail that matters, and he chooses which those are perfectly. I feel like our way of planning and painting is very similar, less loose and free, more intentional and exact. His style I feel comes most naturally to me.

Whenever I start his class, I know I'll have a relaxing, successful project, and many of my favorite projects I've done are from his classes. Every time I open my notifications here (so basically every day) I wish he'd posted a new class, and when he has, I get a big grin on my face and drop everything else and get to it! I'm so serious when I say this: I'd pay the membership price just to follow him if he was the only teacher here, his classes are worth every penny.

The way he absolutely overachieves in making the perfect classes for us, I'm not sure I can even find the words to describe how much I appreciate him. The classes are so extremely well thought out and executed, the everything-you-could-possibly-need of highest quality resources, step-by-step detailed instructions, and tips and tricks that he provides without a fail every single time... I honestly learn something new every time. I just love his classes, from the teaching itself, his video editing skills, his calm, encouraging voice, timing and order of things, to music choices, to the art itself... The list could go on. Just the very obvious amount of planning and effort and time that he spends on providing us with these lessons is mind boggling, and I love him for it so, so much. I don't know if I would've gotten hooked on watercolor painting the way I did if he wasn't teaching here, and I'm so proud of him finally earning the Top Teacher tag that he so clearly deserved. 

So I just wanted to take a moment to thank you, Krzysztof. You have no idea how much you have meant to me and my art. I wish you every success in this life, and I can't wait to see more from you! 

Oh and if anyone else reading this wants to see more from Chris, there are more classes and coloring books etc. on his website at esperoart.com ! 

And finally, here's my the 200th completed class project:

I used St Cuthberts Mill's Saunders Waterford 300gsm 100% cotton cold-pressed paper in size 40x30cm and Daniel Smith's tube watercolors. I went with a muted Cobalt Blue Violet water instead of the blue one just for preference reasons but otherwise I stuck to the plan. My vein lines are way too thick but for some reason with this paper I had a really hard time lifting out paint that should be liftable, even the greens gave me trouble. Other than that, I love how it turned out. :) 

Thank you for yet another spectacular class, Chris!!