USk Workshop: Plein-Air Sketching in Watercolor

FIND THE BEST MOTIF, STUDY IT & TURN IT INTO BEST WATERCOLOR, IN 3 DAYS! 

Plein-Air Sketching in Watercolor with MAJID MODIR 

Den Haag, The Nederlands, July 20-22, 2019 

The very first step to find a perfect motif is often the most difficult moment. 

We stand in front of a wide view and making the decission to frame it become a dilema. 

We want to reflect our feelings reagrding the place through a good sketch or painting, but we don’t know where to start! 

What do you do to get over the barrier and difficulties in a limitet time and live in a certain place? And how do you plan your little journey all the way through the sketching? 

Join urban sketcher and watercolor instructor Majid Modir in a 3-day workshop and follow his methods which simply will help you to feel confident doing plein-air waterocolors and taking fast decissions. Capture the visual essence of some interesting spots in the beautiful Den Haag, and bring home both pleasant memories and some vibrant paintings. 

Why not do it as an up-warming and get ready to join the USK-Symposium in Amsterdam which starts right after!

It will be a plenty of demos and you will receive individual attention and guidlines. We will work on finding the best motives with good compositions, study values & contrasts, as well as simplifying a scene, and finally keeping pure transparency in our watercolors. 

In the meanwhile we will experience the joy of sketching live and having fun! 

We will end each day with a review and an optional group dinner. 

Learning goals 

– CHOOSING THE MOTIF: Capturing the soul and beauty of a certain place. 

– FOCUSING & STUDYING: Discovering the most interesting spot in the chosen view, framing and focusing on it. 

– DEFINING THE DEPTH: Finding the Values in it and working on Contrasts as the basis and going on with colors at the same time. 

– USING THE TECHNIQUE: Improvement of watercolor technique and making a good balance between wet-in-wet and dry brush. 

Workshop location 

Den Haag, The Netherlands 

(about 40 minutes from Amsterdam by train) 

Dates & Duration 

July 20-22, 2019 

3 days, 6 hours session per day with a lunch break. 

Morning: 3 hours (10-13) / Afternoon: 3 hours (14-17) 

Workshop Schedule 

Day 1. 

INTRODUCTION: We start with looking at some helpful examples and try to understand how a good work should be planed and done. VIEW-FINDING INSTRUCTIONS: We train our eyes to capture the best angels & subjects, from a different point of view or perspective than the regular or expected. BASICS IN WATERCOLOR TECHNIQUE: We go through the materials and devices for best plein-air watercolor painting (paints, brushes, papers, easels etc), followed by demo in Duivenvoorde Castle. 

Day 2. 

COMPOSITION & CROPPING INSTRUCTIONS : We do some exercises to achieve the best motives by creating some fast vignettes on our sketch books, and also by using a simple tool to frame our founded motives. We continue with the selected sketches as paintings on watercolor paper, followed by a demo in The Japanese Garden

Day 3. 

VALUE-FINDING METHODS: With instructions in Contrasts (the light and the darkness), Color Palette, and some other terms such as sharpness & blur, dry brush & wet-in-wet, followed by a demo in Scheveningen Beach and the Pier

Number of participants 

15 participants maximum (minimum 10) 

All levels of experience are welcome! (preferably with basic knowledge of water color painting) 

Registration fee 

Workshop Fee € 300 (payable through PayPal) 

Including: 18 hours tuition in three days of: demos, instructions and critiques. 

You will need to book your own accommodations and travel. 

A list of suggested supplies for the class and other practical informations will be send to the registered participants. 

To register write to: info@majidmodir.com

About the instructor: www.majidmodir.com