“Flowers & Gardens - from Basic to expressive”

- Class lessons based on sketchbook Foundations of watercolor….and beyond!-

Begins: Tuesdays -September 30- November 4, 2025

don’t miss out on this class!

-Whether starting your watercolor journey or stretching and solidifying those skills-

including drawing, paint handling, color mixtures, composition and more!

using selected selected seasonal florals to inspire us!

- The next studio series runs Tuesdays,

6 weeks on zoom!

My current students & I love the “zoom Room”-

I do hope you’ll join us!

(If you already know you want to sign up, scroll to the bottom of this for registration!)

(and no problem if you’re working during these hours, or something unexpected comes up - these classes are recorded so you won’t miss a thing! We also have a private Facebook group to share our work in, find encouragement from your classmates, and receive feedback from me!).

I’d love for you to join us - Tuesday mornings

(scroll to the bottom if you already know you want to register!)

This series is for YOU, whether an ambitious beginner OR an experienced painter looking to increase and solidify YOUR skills and gain new ideas - and discover how to bring out YOUR own unique style!

Each week, we’ll be studying blossom shapes and how to represent them singly/by itself…and within a grouping. By mid-series we’ll expand that to entire garden settings from late summer as we move into fall. We will cover drawing skills (and understanding representing 3-D form vs. flat shape & design; color mixing, and composition. Also, we’ll cover brushwork and increasing our comfort zone with our brush…not just to ‘color something in’ - but to use ‘instead of a pencil’!

When it comes to growing our own expressiveness, I’ll be teaching you ways to explore ‘finding your own voice among all the poxxibilities’. We will be working from photographs in our zoom sessions, but I will also stress HOW to work from life as you develop your ability to see and understand how to represent shapes. And in the last two weeks, we’ll also base our studies off of a ‘masterwork’ so each student will understand how to develop ‘their own study course’ as they continue to grow through their life as a painter!

A painting isn’t good because it looks like something. It’s good because it FEELS like something! How do you get beyond ‘copying a photo’ and learning to interpret your references…and bring out your own ‘style’. How does one ‘find that uniqueness of self’? (And how does this help us when we are painting from life?)

“flowers & gardens, from basic to expressive” - it’s for you if:

-you’re wanting to expand watercolor skills and are ready to take on a fun challenge (yes, you CAN do this - even as an ambitious beginner!).

-you’re an intermediate painter or experienced painter but are looking to grow your confidence and skills with new techniques and ideas and solidify and strengthen the things you already know. You’re trying to ‘find your own way’ and become more expressive in your ideas and painting techniques.

-you want to increase your capacity to make imaginative paintings that inspire and excite you (and others).

- you want to be confident in the decision making process in this watercolor medium.

-you want to get comfortable with the ‘flow and escapism’ (those ‘scary parts’ of watercolor…which turn out to be the absolute most fun parts ever!)

-you want to move the level of your work to ‘confident, and not tentative’.

-you want to learn to incorporate other mediums into watercolor.

-you want to begin a daily practice of painting, so that this becomes ‘like breathing’ and ‘not so scary’ a thing to do.

-you are not afraid of ‘embracing the wonky’ as you grow your skills!!

-you want to learn how to make beautiful textures in watercolor and incorporate these into your paintings.

-you want to expand your color knowledge and make smart choices when ‘editing your palette’.

-you want to feel comfortable in knowing the colors you mix won’t turn into a muddy, murky mess.

-you’re fascinated by the abstract shapes that can strengthen your landscape paintings.

-you want to build your confidence AND have fun!

this class is not for you if:

-you don’t have a sense of adventure & fun.

-you are looking for a highly refined degree of finish. (yet these basics certainly build toward that end).

****

**The course is mostly sketchbook work, and also loose watercolor paper. I’ll be working mostly on cold press paper for this course, but might include some hot press paper as well. You may use either but if you’re a newer painter, I’d suggest using cold press paper.

**Some subjects we’ll be stretching a bit into the whimsical.

**We WILL be practicing brushwork exercises to work boldly and confidently.

**We will also focus on techniques to improve our drawing and composition skills.

- Here’s the scope of this course:

The list below covers some of the scope of this course:

• While our classes are inside in front of the computer, and using photo references, we’ll also address working from life, how to get comfortable with doing that, and the benefits of drawing from real life vs. photos.

• How to grow your confidence in painting & sketching from life.

• YES - this class IS indeed for brand new beginners and beyond - to build your confidence. If you’re not sure of your skill level, contact me, and lets talk about it! Or - if you’ve been painting for a while - let me know your concerns about the directions you’d like to grow in.

• How to ‘think like a painter’.

• Learning to ALLOW watercolor to do what it does best- flow on the paper. Keeping that fluid look and not getting ‘stiff and crusty’.

• We start by talking about ‘basic shapes’ - what is the form of that object, how it is affected by light, and what does it look like from various angles?

• Learning to see BIG SHAPES first, details last!

• Editing information, what to put in, what to leave out! SQUINTING IS KEY!!

• Loose brushwork exercises - using your tools to their best advantage - and understanding that tactile sense of the paint and what it can do.

• How to show atmospheric perspective through color, softness vs. hardness of edges, and placement of elements.

• Color harmony.

• Brushes- how to get the most from them, brush techniques to get the most from your tools & the most expressive paintings from your hand to the paper!
  
  

Class times and dates below

Contact me if you're unsure if this is for you.  Come join us on Tuesday mornings! Contact me to reserve your spot! 

supplies: https://www.roxannesteed.com/blog/2025/1/7/supply-list-for-2025-classes

You may use what you have and purchase online or locally anything that you are lacking. Some supplies will be marked as ‘optional’.

I’d love for you to join us on Tuesday mornings

9:30am - 12:00pm

$150 for 6 weeks

Dates: “Flowers & Gardens - from Basic to Expressive” - - current session, 2025

I LOVE seeing the progress that every one makes in my classes. I created this curriculum seven years ago - and continue to update it, and it really works. I’m so excited to keep you going on YOUR creative journey, and nurture YOU along your way!