*New* Rainbow Reverie ONLINE *Earlybird price*
Lesson release dates: 30 June - 13 July 2025 (scroll down for access details)
Continued access period: LIFETIME
20% off earlybird price until 26 May 2025
Imagine living each day guided and buoyed by colour...waking with a clear mind and a sense of being present?
This transformational course - the sequel to Finding Your Colour Voice - is all about cultivating wonderment and calm by establishing a dual daily practice focused on colour. First, meditative painting. The naturally relaxing act of slow watercolour painting combines perfectly with mindfulness: to still your mind, steady your hand and allow colour to captivate your eyes and heart. Second, keeping a colour diary. By considering and documenting colour as it happens, your connection with it matures. The practice is both cathartic and practical, providing you with an emotional outlet while building a valuable resource.
These two activities run continuously through the course - separate but intertwined. Both build the habit of living in the moment by marvelling at colour. Mindful painting is presented in easy-to-follow incremental steps, while keeping a colour diary is shared in the form of daily tips and ideas, and small projects.
Topics include:
• Exploration without expectation (mindfulness in the context of painting)
• Watercolour 101 (an introduction or refresher)
• Ways to get started
• Mass vs space (responding to edges and negative space)
• Show & tell (a look through my colour diaries)
• Observing and recording colour (where, when, how)
• Some simple sketching methods
• Hand lettering, automatic writing, annotation and ideation
• Finding (and using) colour palettes
• Colour and the psyche
WHAT YOU GET
• Downloadable deck of prompts, for both painting and colour diary
• Ten 30-40 minute video lessons (one lesson released each day during the dates at the top of this page), each with supporting material: summary of exercise(s), plus additional content such as quotes, anecdotes, and static illustrations
• Two weekend briefs, designed to help you springboard an independent piece at the end of each week based on what you have learned from the preceding five lessons
• Two bonus FAQ videos in which I respond to questions posed prior to and during the initial run of the course
YOU WILL NEED
• Artist quality watercolour paint (pans or tubes) in a range of values, opacities, and intensities, plus a granulating colour if you have one (*scroll down for further info)
• Round watercolour brush (size 6, 7 or 8)
• Cold pressed (NOT) watercolour paper, at least 300gsm (140lb). Size: 36x26cm (14x10in), 41x31cm (16 x12in), A3 or Legal
• General stationery supplies (pen, pencil, eraser, sharpener, craft knife, steel ruler, cutting mat, scissors, compass, scrap paper etc)
• Clear glass jars
• Empty journal, size A5 or A4 (approx. 6x8in or 8x12in). Plain, ruled, graph pages are all fine. Regular paper weight for writing and sketching
• A few sheets of A4 (letter) cartridge paper
• Selection of colourful art supplies (colour pencils, markers, inks etc). Nothing specific...you just need to be able to work in colour in your journal
• Scrap papers (from old books, packaging, tickets, pamphlets etc), pref. matt surface, for collage
• Paper glue (such as Pritt stick, Nori starch paste, PVA)
• Masking (Washi) tape
HOW TO ACCESS THE COURSE
Content is recorded and available for self-paced viewing in any time zone. Once lessons are released (dates at the top of this page), you may watch and rewatch as often as you like. Your access link and password will be emailed to you 72 hours prior to course commencement. Please type your email address carefully and check your spam folder.
CONCESSIONS
The lower price is provided on an honesty box basis for people on a genuinely low income. It is funded via a private grant for widening participation in art education. The discount is not funded by customers paying the full price. Please access it only if you are in actual need.
COPYRIGHT
All content is copyright Tansy Hargan. By signing up for this course you agree not to share, distribute or monetise its content in any way. Videos are not to be replayed in classrooms and studios. If you are a teacher and would like to see me (in person or online) in your school or studio please get in touch [email protected]
*"Value" refers to how light or dark a colour is. Yellow, for example, is light, while purple is dark. Having a range values will help you add depth to compositions. "Opacity" refers to how transparent something is. Having a range of paint opacities, from see-through to opaque, will make layering more fun.
"Intensity" (also known as "chroma" and "saturation") refers to how bright a colour is. Pyrrole Orange and Opera Rose are intense and vivid, whereas Raw Umber and Potter's Pink are soft and muted.
"Granulating" watercolours (such as French Ultramarine) contain larger particles of pigment, which separate and sink more quickly as paint dries on paper with a textured surface (think of sand resting on the dimpled bottom of a bucket at the seaside).
Most basic ready-made sets will have the attributes listed, or you could have fun assembling a limited palette especially for the course.
