Portrait Painting in Watercolour with Catherine MacDiarmid

About the Workshop & Tutor

Catherine is a very established artist working primarily in portraiture and from the human form. Being invited to feature on PAOTY over 3 separate series, and with her work being in collections internationally, and as member of many a prestigious society, we are very lucky to have Catherine share her methods and practices with us. She has over 25 years of experience in teaching adult learners/artists the rigours of portraiture and life drawing so we will be in very good hands whilst being put through our paces, whether beginner or experienced practitioner. You can find out more about Catherine here.

Portraiture is the perfect discipline to improve our drawing and painting skills, feeding into all aspects of our artistic practice.  This course will provide an opportunity for people of all abilities to develop creating portraits in watercolour, both from a live sitter and photographs.

Working from photographs we will learn to handle watercolour paint to represent the soft tonal and colour transitions of flesh and hair.  Hints and tips on paint handling will be given by Catherine - from the use of water to the importance of layering paint to create depth and interest in your portrait work.  Colour mixes and combinations will also be explored with the intended outcome of everyone being more armed to make independent choices best suited to their subject and styles.

Painting from a live sitter will give participants the opportunity to develop different ways of working with the watercolours to represent the portrait.  These will include aspects of good drawing before painting, as well as drawing directly with the paint and expanding our use of marks.

Emphasis will constantly be on good observation, as this is key to good portraiture.  However, encouragement to be brave and experimental with watercolour will be nurtured for participants to expand their practice with this delightful painting medium.  By the end of the course an embedding of confidence and technique will allow for further individual development.

As with all taught sessions, this course is more about learning that can be integrated into practice rather than on getting immediate results and showing that which we can already do. Learning to record the most useful information about our subject, discovering something about seeing the structure. Learning ways of describing in watercolour. It's more about succumbing to being a student and being open to discourse, intervention, and learning, so we can then make informed choices about what is useful to us and incorporate into our regular practice no matter what our primary subject may be.

What is provided?

All equipment, paper, and materials are provided. A selection of teas and coffee, organic milk and plant based milk, plus a selection of treats will also be available.

Terms & Conditions

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
Course & Workshop Terms & Conditions

Portrait Gallery