Online Class: Springtime Watercolor Greeting Cards & Bookmarks

In this class, create watercolor greeting cards and bookmarks that capture the colors and shapes of springtime botanicals and landscapes.

Inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s landscapes in watercolor and other mediums, participants will learn to capture spring colors in mini compositions by effectively using watercolor brushwork, washes, glazes, and back-runs. Through interactive demonstrations and step-by-step guidance from teaching artist Sudeshna Sengupta, explore the expressive possibilities of watercolor to make a perfect gift for those in your life who like colors, gardening, and books –a lovely present for Mother’s Day!

Supplies Needed for this Class:

Strathmore Watercolor Blank Cards with Envelopes

OR

Watercolor paper cut to size for making greeting cards from acid-free 140 lbs (300 gsm) sheets in Cold-Press finish Watercolor block (preferred) or pad (tape-bound, not spiral-bound) of Fluid, Strathmore 400 series (not 300 series), Canson, or similar brands.

Bookmarks can be cut out of 140 lbs sheets from watercolor pads. A ruler and an x-acto knife are recommended for this step.

• Watercolor paints. Individual tubes are recommended but a box of half-pans may work as a starter set.

Watercolor tubes in these or similar colors: 1. Hansa Yellow, 2. Indian Yellow or Quinacridone Gold, 3. Vermillion, 4. Carmine, 5. Opera, Quinacridone Rose, Permanent Rose, Opera or Opera Rose, 6. Purple/Violet, 7. Ultramarine Blue, 8. Pthalo Blue or Thalo Blue, 9. Viridian, 10. Sap Green, 11. Leaf 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
A 12-well circular palette with a larger center to mix paints. Jones Travel Palette is recommended.

• A regular 2 pencil (a.k.a. HB) or 2B pencil & 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 or Simply Simmons 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 blunt plastic tool such as a disposable plastic knife for sgraffito technique.
• Optional: Hair dryer if available, a white wax crayon or a small piece of candle for optional resist techniques.

These items should be available locally or online from Amazon as individual items in the U.S and in Europe or can be purchased online as individual items or as a set for Sudeshna Sengupta’s class-list at https://merriartist.com/collections/sudeshna-sengupta-georgia-o-keeffe-museum (U.S. domestic shipping only).

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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.

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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 instagram.com/santafe_online_art_studio

Registration

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