Online Class: Watercolor Flower Close-ups | Circular Mandalas 

Inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s iconic depictions of magnified flowers, this class will explore the mandala-like radial balance found in her compositions that invite viewers to marvel at nature’s inner intricacies.

Through interactive demos and instructions, teaching artist Sudeshna Sengupta will guide participants through the concepts and techniques for basic drawing, tonal blending, and color mixing. Participants will also learn how to develop a stylized, abstracted approach in their projects by simplifying the details of flower heads into mandala-like circular rhythms. 

Participants are welcome to use their own large circular flowers or photographs for inspiration. Or, they are welcome to follow along with the example that will be used during the in-class demo.

Supplies needed for this class: 

• A 12-well circular palette with a larger center to mix paints. Jones Travel Palette is recommended.
• Paints: While a set of half pans can be used for getting started, watercolor tubes in these or similar colors are recommended for better results: Hansa Yellow; Indian Yellow or Quinacridone Gold or Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue; Pyrrole Orange or Vermillion or Cadmium Orange Hue; Carmine or Madder Lake Deep; Opera, or Opera Rose, or Opera Pink, or Quinacridone Rose or Permanent Rose; Quinacridone Purple Red or Permanent Red-Violet; Dioxazine or Carbazole or Permanent Violet/Purple; Ultramarine Blue; Winsor Blue or Phthalo Blue Green Shade or Thalo Blue or Manganese Blue Hue; Viridian; Sap Green; Leaf Green or Lime Green (Optional: Burnt Sienna or Quinacridone Burnt Orange).
• Recommended brands of watercolor paint tubes:
  • Student/Learner grade: Van Gogh, Grumbacher Academy, or W & N Cotman
  • Professional grade: Holbein, M. Graham, Daniel Smith, or Winsor & Newton
• Watercolor block (preferred) or pad (tape-bound, not spiral-bound) of Fluid, Strathmore 400 series (not 300 series), Canson, or any other brand with acid-free 140 lbs (300 gsm) sheets in cold-press finish that is between 9” x 12” and 12” x 16” in size.
• A regular 2 pencil (a.k.a. HB) or 2B pencil and a white eraser.
• Round and flat watercolor brushes (synthetic Taklon brushes are fine): 4 to 5 round brushes in the range of size 6, 8, 10, 12, 14. Optional: a 1 flat brush that’s 1⁄2” to 1.5” wide. Royal Soft-Grip watercolor round brushes work well.
• Masking tape in a neutral color if a watercolor pad is used instead of a watercolor block.
• 2 to 3 empty glass jars or containers for holding water. Used yogurt containers or wide-mouth glass jars work well.
• Optional:
  • An ordinary 3⁄4” – 1” mop brush to be used as a clean-up brush after erasing pencil lines.
  • Q-tips and paper towels, or pieces of cotton rag. Cut-up pieces from a clean, used t-shirt work well.
  • A set of watercolor pencils for details
  • Hair dryer

The items above should be available locally or online as individual items in the U.S and in Europe. They can also be purchased online as individual items or as a set from Sudeshna Sengupta’s class-list.

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This class is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. Children are welcome to participate alongside their adults.

This program will take place via the video conferencing app – ZOOM. Details for accessing the Zoom meeting will be with your receipt upon registering and again sent via email the day prior. Please register in advance in order to access the program.

Note that all program times are in Mountain Time.

About the Instructor:

Sudeshna Sengupta’s career as a teaching artist spans multiple decades, continents, and cultures that inform her pedagogy for decolonizing studio art. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in 1985 from Visva-Bharati University, founded by the first non-European Nobel Laureate (1913) and humanist poet Rabindranath Tagore.

After teaching art and design at the college level in New Delhi, Seattle, and California, she taught at New Mexico State University-Alamogordo, where she established its first intaglio printmaking studio in 1995. Besides the O’Keeffe Museum, Sengupta teaches credit courses with the School of Art & Design of the Santa Fe Community College.

Her etchings and lithographs from the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi have been featured in a landmark exhibition on Women Printmakers of India at the NGMA-New Delhi in India. Her work is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Association Musée d’Art Contemporain, France; Kala Institute, Berkeley, and more.

Sengupta also conducts workshops, short courses, lectures, and community-based art events focusing on multicultural and intercultural experiences that emphasize human, cultural, and environmental connectedness through creativity.

To learn more, please visit notes-and-doodles.com and visit her Instagram @santafe_online_art_studio

Registration

This class is being offered on a sliding scale. Your class fee helps to sustain the variable costs associated with hosting this program. We appreciate your support.

$15 minimal fee.

$25 covers the cost of the class.

$40 covers the cost of the class, plus a contribution to support educational programs.