Art Practical: Expressionism in Watercolour

The course will go through an in-depth presentation of various watercolour techniques, such as glazing, blending, drybrush or graded wash, by connecting each to different artworks that clearly illustrate them. Students will learn to read different artworks by examining the various steps and techniques that were involved in creating them- this will offer them an enriched appreciation of the paintings, and a more thorough understanding of their visual elements. At the same time, the course aims to empower the students to create personal, original artworks inspired by the paintings. It will especially focus on teaching ways of appreciating the luminosity and transparency of pure watercolour washes and the way they can lead to beautiful atmospheric effects in the paintings and to sophisticated colour compositions. Some of the artists studied include Albrecht Dürer, William Turner, Paul Cezanne, Emil Nolde, Paul Klee, Georgia O'Keeffe, Mark Rhotko, Louise Bourgeois, Chris Ofili, David Hockney and Marlene Dumas. Thus, the course explores and tries to create connections between masterworks in various styles from art history and examples in contemporary art. It will also examine different ideas that various art styles and movements were based on, and the way they influenced the watercolour techniques that were preferred or the type of experimentation with the medium that they led to.