Watercolor 2026

This is my 6th run through this course! Sketching Now Watercolor was my very first Sketching Now course, back in 2018. I also did it in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024

Here are all the exercises I did this year for it. I used a handmade paper for some of the assignments that was so very different to work with. Colors are luminous on it, and it is highly absorbent. It takes forever to dry, and so colors really merge and blend. Detail is lost and I was too impatient to go back and try to add more details after it had dried, so my work has a very soft, and blended look. It has taught me a lot about the paper, and how much of impact paper really does have on watercolor. With each new practice I’m getting better and better at it.

My biggest takeaway this time through was the effect of paper on how watercolor performs. I think if I use that handmade paper my sketches will need some lines to bring out the subjects, but for class, I enjoyed experimenting with direct watercolor, no lines.

Next up with be Edges and I’ve never done that course. I think I did the first half of lesson one the last time it was run live, in 2021. I’m really looking forward to shifting my focus from watercolor, to line and practicing my drawing.