Online Class: Drawing for Watercolorists | Lines & Strokes

This class will build and strengthen drawing skills with a focus on capturing the essence of nature’s shapes with sinuous lines that are ready to be translated into watercolor brushwork. 

Through interactive demonstrations and a structured overview of tools, techniques, and concepts, teaching artist Sudeshna Sengupta will cover the basics of line drawing, starting with how to hold a pencil correctly to create bold and expressive lines of varying weight. The class will then practice warm-up exercises that will build muscle memory for confident lines and strokes. Throughout the lesson, she will also break down concepts like contour drawing, gesture drawing, and more.

This class will be excellent preparation for the online class “Observational Drawing | Still-Life Study,” which will take place on Wednesday, June 18, 1–3 pm MT. 

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

Space is limited, reservations required.

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.

Supplies needed for this class: 

• Mixed-media drawing pad in Strathmore 400 series or any other brand in any size between 9” x 12” and 11” x 14”. Larger pads will work well also. Thicker paper (140 lb or higher) is better.

• A set of 2B, 4B, & 6B graphite pencils and an eraser

• 3 to 5 Blending stumps (AKA Tortillons, often come with drawing pencil sets) and or Q-tips

• Optional: Charcoal Pencils in Medium (2B) and Soft/Dark (4B or 6B), masking tape to keep the paper flat especially if the pad is larger, colored pencils or pastels or conte if anyone wants to add a hint of color.

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

This class is being offered on a sliding scale.

$10 minimal fee.

$20 covers the cost of the class.

$30 covers the cost of the class, plus a contribution to support educational programs.