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Developing Your Watercolour – Level 2 (Wed eve, Feb 2027)
£150
Booking is through our sister studio, The Art School Chester. Pick your date when you book.
Building on the techniques introduced in Level 1, you’ll explore more expressive brushwork, richer colour relationships, stronger compositions and a wider range of textures and effects. You’ll learn how to plan a painting without losing the freshness and spontaneity that make watercolour so distinctive.
Across the six weeks you’ll work from observation and reference images while developing your own artistic choices: how to simplify a subject, identify a focal point, create atmosphere and balance loose passages with carefully chosen details.
Each session includes tutor demonstrations, focused exercises, individual guidance and time to develop your own paintings in a calm, friendly studio environment.
What you’ll learn
Developing confident and expressive brushwork
Selecting and simplifying subjects for watercolour
Creating stronger compositions and focal points
Mixing sophisticated, harmonious colour palettes
Using warm and cool colour to create depth and atmosphere
Building transparent layers while preserving light
Creating convincing textures and varied edges
Using negative painting techniques
Balancing loose washes with controlled detail
Planning and completing more developed watercolour paintings
Week by week
Week 1
Refreshing Skills & Expressive Brushwork
Refresh the essentials from Level 1, then explore more expressive brushwork and mark-making – how water, pressure and brush angle produce lively, confident results.
Week 2
Composition, Focus & Simplification
Thumbnail sketches, cropping, focal points and positive/negative space – simplifying complex references into clear, effective compositions.
Week 3
Developing Colour & Atmosphere
Warm and cool relationships, limited palettes and subtle neutrals – creating distance, light, mood and atmosphere without muddiness.
Week 4
Texture, Edges & Negative Painting
Suggest foliage, stone, wood and reflections; explore hard, soft and lost edges and negative painting.
Week 5
Developing a Personal Painting
Begin a more ambitious painting from your own subject or a tutor-provided reference, planning composition, palette, tonal structure and layers.
Week 6
Completing & Refining Your Painting
Finish your painting with individual tutor support, learn when a painting is finished, and close with an encouraging group review.
Thursday afternoons with Ruth: week by week
Loved Level 1 or already know the basics? Take your watercolours further in this friendly follow-on course with Ruth. You'll build on your foundations with richer colour, looser brushwork and more ambitious subjects, at a relaxed pace with lots of support. All materials included.
Week 1
Colour confidence
Limited palettes, glazing and vibrant mixes.
Week 2
Loose and lively
Expressive brushwork and letting the paint flow.
Week 3
Texture tricks
Salt, lifting out, dry brush and masking fluid.
Week 4
Depth and distance
Atmospheric perspective in landscapes.
Week 5
Painting with light
Strong lights and darks for drama.
Week 6
Your showpiece
Plan and paint a finished painting in your own style.
Who is it for?
Adults who have completed Watercolour Painting Foundations
Beginners who already understand basic watercolour techniques
Returning students who want to strengthen their skills
Painters who would like to work with greater confidence and independence
Anyone wishing to loosen their painting style while retaining control
What’s included
All materials and equipment provided
Step-by-step tutor demonstrations
Focused technique exercises
Reference images and composition guidance
Individual feedback and support
Small-group teaching
Watercolour studies and a finished artwork to take home