Having completed the Watercolour Painting Course with Jem Bowden I was delighted to receive the College Diploma. The whole Course was very instructive an d stimulating. The main messages I took form the tuition was that a successful watercolour is 90% planning and 10% doing. And there has to be a range of marks. I was encourage to make several sketches planning composition and tone before picking up a brush. This painting of Dedham Hall was done from an on site photograph and sketches. The images show the initial cropping to create a portrait format, the big shape tonal design, and the final tonal sketch. This was towards the end of the course when I was beginning to understand what Jem meant by a ‘range’ of marks. Light against dark, warm against cool, small against large, rough against smooth etc. All in all the course taught a structured approach to painting a watercolour and was well worth the effort.
Alan Connor
Watercolour Painting Diploma
