Online Class: Watercolor Red Poppy with Wet-in-wet Background

In this class, learn to paint the iconic red poppy in watercolor by zooming in on the flower for a close-up view.

Inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s series of red poppies, this intermediate class will explore how to create watercolor compositions using the wet-on-wet application technique. Through live demonstrations, teaching artist Sudeshna Sengupta will also guide participants through the concept of negative-positive painting. An essential skill for watercolorists, this technique is used to define main shapes by painting the background around them. 

In addition to any reference photos of your own, participants are welcome to follow along with the poppy flower setup used during the live demonstration. 

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This class is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. Children are welcome to participate alongside their adults.

Space is limited, reservations required.

This program will take place via the video conferencing app – ZOOM. Details for accessing the Zoom meeting will be with your receipt upon registering and again sent via email the day prior. Please register in advance in order to access the program.

Note that all program times are in Mountain Time.

Supplies needed for this class: 

• A 12-well circular palette with a larger center to mix paints. Jones Travel Palette is recommended.
• Paints: While a set of half pans can be used for getting started, watercolor tubes in these or similar colors are recommended for better results: 
  • 1. Hansa Yellow; 2. Indian Yellow or Quinacridone Gold or Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue; 3. Pyrrole Orange or Vermillion; 4. Carmine or Madder lake Deep; 5. Opera, or Opera Rose, or Opera Pink, or Quinacridone Rose or Permanent Rose; 6. Quinacridone or Dioxazine or Carbazole or Permanent Violet/Purple; 7. Ultramarine Blue; 8. Pthalo Blue Green Shade or Thalo Blue or Manganese Blue Hue; 9. Viridian; 10. Sap Green; 11. Leaf Green or Lime Green; 12. Burnt Sienna or Quinacridone Burnt Orange. 
• Recommended brands of watercolor paint tubes: 
  • Student/Learner grade: Van Gogh, Grumbacher Academy, or W & N Cotman 
  • Professional grade: Holbein, M. Graham, Daniel Smith, or Winsor & Newton
• Watercolor block (preferred) or pad (tape-bound, not spiral-bound) of Fluid, Strathmore 400 series (not 300 series), Canson, or any other brand with acid-free 140 lbs (300 gsm) sheets in Cold-Press finish that is between 9” x 12” and 12” x 16” in size.
• A sketch pad for preliminary drawing practice
• A regular 2 pencil (a.k.a. HB) or 2B pencil and a white eraser.
• Round and Flat Watercolor brushes (synthetic ‘Taklon’ brushes are fine): 4 to 5 Round brushes in the range of Size 6, 8, 10, 12, 14. Optional: a 1 Flat brush that’s 1⁄2” to 1.5” wide. Royal Soft-Grip Watercolor Round brushes work well.
• An ordinary ¾” – 1” mop brush to be used as a clean-up brush after erasing pencil lines.
• Q-tips and paper towel or pieces of cotton rag. Cut-up pieces from a clean, used t-shirt work well.
• Masking tape if a watercolor pad is used instead of a watercolor block.
• 2 to 3 empty glass jars or containers for holding water. Used yogurt containers or wide-mouth smaller glass jars work well.
• Toothpicks and or a semi-blunt plastic tool such as a disposable plastic knife or the cap of a ballpoint pen for sgraffito technique.
• Optional: Hair dryer if available, a white wax crayon or a small piece of candle for optional resist techniques, watercolor pencils for additional details, watercolor Brush-pens for additional details.

The items above should be available locally or online from Amazon as individual items in the U.S and in Europe. They can also be purchased online (within the US) as individual items or as a set from Sudeshna Sengupta’s class-list.

About the Instructor:

Sudeshna Sengupta’s career as a teaching artist spans multiple decades, continents, and cultures that inform her pedagogy for decolonizing studio art. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in 1985 from Visva-Bharati University, founded by the first non-European Nobel Laureate (1913) and humanist poet Rabindranath Tagore.

After teaching art and design at the college level in New Delhi, Seattle, and California, she taught at New Mexico State University-Alamogordo, where she established its first intaglio printmaking studio in 1995. Besides the O’Keeffe Museum, Sengupta teaches credit courses with the School of Art & Design of the Santa Fe Community College.

Her etchings and lithographs from the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi have been featured in a landmark exhibition on Women Printmakers of India at the NGMA-New Delhi in India. Her work is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Association Musée d’Art Contemporain, France; Kala Institute, Berkeley, and more.

Sengupta also conducts workshops, short courses, lectures, and community-based art events focusing on multicultural and intercultural experiences that emphasize human, cultural, and environmental connectedness through creativity.

To learn more, please visit notes-and-doodles.com and visit her Instagram @santafe_online_art_studio

This class is being offered on a sliding scale.

$10 minimal fee.

$20 covers the cost of the class.

$30 covers the cost of the class, plus a contribution to support educational programs.