Colors of the West: Landscape Watercolor at Cascade Head

Molly teaches regularly for outdoor institutes like Yellowstone Forever and the North Cascades Institute. She has worked with students of all ages. Her mission is to connect them to nature and cultural history through hands-on art experiences.  She has been working in watercolor for over 35 years, and has studied printmaking and etching for the last 13 years.  Her teaching approach is to help students discover their own style; and she does this by offering many demonstrations and skill-building exercises where they can try out methods and then tailor them to their own work. She is the author of Colors of the West, Birds of the West and Mt. Rainier National Park: An Artist's Guide.

• Drawing pencil HB (for watercolor undersketches)

• Artist eraser, white Mars plastic (made by Staedtler)

• Arches 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper, in single sheets 22 X 30: cut to preferred size for your painting. It’s also available in blocks: 7" X 10" or 9" X 12" are good sizes.  : please be sure to bring 100% rag watercolor paper. No Canson or Strathmore, please.  Just Arches or Fabriano—this is really a big factor in painting loose washes, which is one of the methods I’ll be sharing with you.

•  Sable or sable/synthetic blend watercolor brushes:  #6, and #4 round, ¾" flat, ½" flat.

Other sizes and types are optional.  Do not buy a synthetic brush for larger round sizes;  they are too stiff and do not lay smooth washes.  Synthetics are fine for #4 and smaller sizes.  I like Da Vinci Maestro sable rounds the best, but they are expensive.  A sable/synthetic blend works well and is cheaper.  Other brushes I like using are smaller flat brushes with chisel edges (which are useful for softening edges, and lifting out), riggers or liners for small line work. 

•  Fine artist quality tube paints: Daniel Smith, Winsor and Newton (not their Cotman variety), Old Holland, Schmincke, Sennelier and M. Graham are some of the higher quality manufacturers.  If you buy cheaper student-grade paints, be aware that they are not always lightfast and hues may vary considerably from artist-quality paints.

•  Required colors--a warm and cool hue of each of the primary colors, plus a few neutrals: Warm means it leans towards red, cool means it leans towards blue (in the primary hue of red, warm means leaning towards orange, cool means leaning towards violet). 

•  Reds: Cool:  permanent alizarin crimson 

             Warm:  pyrrol scarlet 

•  Blues:  Cool:  phthalo blue (green shade) 

              Warm:  phthalo blue (red shade) or French ultramarine blue or ultramarine blue

•  Yellows: Cool: hansa yellow light 

                 Warm:  hansa yellow medium 

•  Violet: carbazole violet 

•  Browns and golds:  quinacridone burnt orange, yellow ochre or raw sienna (you can substitute burnt umber or burnt sienna for the quinacridone burnt orange). 

•  Other colors you may want to add, in order of their usefulness:  cobalt blue,  hansa yellow deep or new gamboge,  perylene green, perinone orange,  indanthrone blue,  Winsor and Newton permanent white gouache

•  Paint palettes: whatever you currently have is fine, but if you are buying something new these are my recommendations:

Studio work: my favorite is the John Pike Watercolor Palette-it’s large, has a cover and multiple small wells.  You may also need saucers or a palette with larger wells if you plan on mixing up larger washes.  I use the San Francisco Slant Palette.  

•  Water containers (small yogurt containers work fine, or glass jars)

•  3M Drafting tape (will not tear most watercolor papers) or other artist tape

•  Soft cotton rag, paper towels

• Masking Fluid—best brand is made by Winsor and Newton (applied with a metal nibbed pen, bamboo pen, or Incredible Nib)

Optional materials:  Sea sponge, Posca white pens, permanent fine point black pens: Staedtler or Pigma Micron