Watercolor For Beginners

6 sessions  for adults (16+)

Cost $180 

Time: Wednesdays 1-3:00pm

Dates: September 6 – Oct 11

Instructor: Gary  McKinnon

Watercolor For Beginners

The general objective of this class is to have fun learning about and developing art and painting skills. We will avoid heavy handed criticism or rigid routines and emphasize the pleasure and satisfaction of art making.

Classes Week By Week

1. Explore the use of tools and materials, brushes, paint as well as color pencils, markers, crayons and ink which can augment the painting. This includes exercises to familiarize the students with these basics.
2. Begin combining painting and elements of art such as color, value, line, & shape. This includes exercises in blending & mixing colors and with value, line, etc.
3. Introduction of styles and technique. We will look at how other artists have used watercolor and try some of these approaches using the media discussed in previous classes.
4. Start translating what we see to what we paint by painting a still life with drapery. While not expecting perfectly rendered realism we aim for a personal and unique interpretation of objects.
5. Continuing with still life painting with more complex forms, textures, transparency, etc.. With practice so necessary to creativity we will continue to develop painting and observational skills.
6. Painting in the courtyard, a pet or human forms. This is another step to introduce other subject matter with somewhat more complexity. We will have a showing of work done in these classes.

Gary McKinnon

Gary was born in Nebraska growing up on the family farm. High school in Phoenix followed by Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles (now CalArts), where Gary earned a BFA in film arts.

His career included positions in a production company, plus advertising and film editing in New York City.  Back to L.A. where he worked for special effects and animation companies, and finally in broadcast television. He made the transition from hand drawn cell animation to computer graphics. 

In the early 2000s he moved to Arizona to be a caregiver to his mother. During that time he received training and acted as a docent at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2011 he moved to Petaluma and is an active member of the Petaluma Arts Center and Visual Thinking Strategies guide there.  He continues to produce video, photography, and paintings to date.  Garymckinnon.tv