Online Class: Still Life Composition in Watercolor

In this intermediate watercolor class, create an observational still-life study inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s watercolor paintings. 

During the lesson, teaching artist Sudeshna Sengupta will explain Georgia O’Keeffe’s tonal treatments and compositional approach while guiding participants through the practice of gesture drawing and organizing a composition with value plans. The class will then move on to starting a still-life with watercolor.

Participants are welcome to set up their own still-life at home with simple objects, fruits, and/or vegetables. They may also follow along with Sudeshna’s still-life with pears, which will be set up during her 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. Note that all program times are in Mountain Time.

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.

Supplies needed for this class: 

• Watercolor tubes in these or similar colors: 1. Hansa Yellow, 2. Indian Yellow or Quinacridone Gold, 3. Cadmium Orange Hue or Vermillion or Pyrrole Orange, 4. Carmine or Madder Lake Deep, 5. Quinacridone Rose or Permanent Rose or Opera Pink, or Opera Rose, 6. Purple/Violet, 7. Ultramarine Blue, 8. Pthalo Blue, Pthalo Blue, or Manganese Blue Hue, 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) and an eraser
• Black Sharpie (optional).
• 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.
• 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.
• Optional: Hair dryer if available, a white wax crayon or a small piece of candle for optional resist techniques, watercolor pencils for additional details.

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 (U.S. domestic shipping only).

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.