Online Class: Irises in Watercolor & Watercolor Pencils

Join us to capture the delicate and vibrant hues of irises in watercolor along with watercolor pencils for additional details and definition.

Inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s irises, this class will explore wet-in-wet watercolor washes and how to accentuate them with cross-contour lines and textures rendered in watercolor pencil. Through interactive, hands-on demonstrations and step-by-step instructions, teaching artist Sudeshna Sengupta also will guide the class through the process of balancing the fluid look of color washes with the precision of watercolor pencils to build a focal point and emphasis.

Participants are welcome to use their own reference photos of irises during the class, or they can use the photos of irises provided during the in-class demonstration.

Supplies needed for this class: 

• A set of watercolor pencils
• Watercolor 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: 1. Hansa Yellow, 2. Indian Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue, or Quinacridone Gold, 3. Pyrrole Orange or Vermillion, 4. Madder Lake Deep or Carmine, 5. Opera, Quinacridone Rose, Permanent Rose, Opera or Opera Rose, 6. Purple/Violet, 7. Ultramarine Blue, 8. Phthalo Blue or Thalo Blue, 9. Viridian, 10. Sap Green, 11. Leaf Green, 12. 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
• A 12-well circular palette with a larger center to mix paints. Jones Travel Palette is recommended.
• 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
• 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 1⁄2” to 1.5” wide. Royal Soft-Grip or Simply Simmons watercolor round brushes work well.
• An ordinary ¾” – 1” mop brush to be used as a clean-up brush after erasing pencil lines.
• Q-tips and paper towel or pieces of cotton rag. Cut-up pieces from a clean, used t-shirt work well.
• Masking tape 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 smaller glass jars work well.
• Toothpicks and or a blunt plastic tool such as a disposable plastic knife for sgraffito technique.
• Optional: Hair dryer if available, a white wax crayon or a small piece of candle for optional resist techniques

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.

Photograph by Sudeshna Sengupta. 2024 © Sudeshna Sengupta