Painting in Watercolors

Judy McArdle paints with watercolors to relax. If she makes a mistake, she doesn’t become stressed, she simply gets a fresh sheet of paper and starts over. She even expects to discard six out of seven of her paintings.

While some people would rather paint with oils because they are easier to control, Mrs. McArdle says she is open to the free will of the watercolors.

“Watercolors are an adventure,” the 63-year-old from Vienna says. “If I do the same painting 100 times, it will always turn out different.”

Beginners should learn the numerous ways to put paint to paper, says Rachel Collins, instructor of “Watercolor from Start to Finish” at the Art League in Alexandria. Mrs. McArdle is a student of Ms. Collins.

The nine-week class introduces beginners to classic watercolor techniques and builds slowly for intermediate students. It is offered throughout the year for $165 or $180. The Art League offers a variety of watercolor classes, including lessons on painting figures, impressionism and abstraction, ranging in length from six to nine weeks. The cost ranges from $130 to $245.

Ms. Collins shows her students how to control their brushes, paper and paint. She teaches them to use wet paint on dry paper, wet paint on wet paper, dry paint — pigment with very little water added to it — on dry paper and dry paint on wet paper. The students experiment with painting still-life settings.

Before the students delve into colors, she has them work with black paint and white paper. She stresses the concept of light and dark values.

Then, the students learn to use a color wheel and mix colors. They also learn glazing, using one layer of paint on top of another.

“You can make watercolors do many things,” Ms. Collins says. “As long as you understand how it works, you can use it effectively.”

Unlike oils, the painter responds quickly to what is happening on the paper, she says.

“You have to be aware of what is happening,” Ms. Collins says. “Your painting is a moving target. Watercolor has a definite personality to it.”

After mastering the preliminary curriculum, she encourages intermediate students to ask her about what they want to learn.

Overall, Ms. Collins stresses good design and composition.

“If you have a strong design and composition, you can screw up technique and still have a good painting,” Ms. Collins says.

Even when it is a representational painting, the patterns of light and dark and patterns of color have to work well, she says.

Sisters Claudia Creo of Alexandria, 56, and Francesca Creo of Fairfax, 55, decided to take Ms. Collins’ beginning watercolors class together. Their father is a painter.

“We’d like to do more of it, but our jobs get in the way,” says Claudia Creo, while making a color wheel. “It’s a luxury. It’s hard to find time to do it.”

Practicing more and painting less is a good motto, says Steve Fleming, an instructor at the Art League. He suggests that students turn off their television and practice for at least 30 minutes each evening, the equivalent of one rerun. He says he learned to paint by doing so three hours a day, seven days a week.

“The more you practice, the better you will get,” Mr. Fleming says. “Learn to use the techniques and tools so you have the necessary magic when you need it in your paintings.”

Being expressive with a paintbrush adds a signature to pieces, he says.

“My favorite painters have great brushwork,” Mr. Fleming says. “I tell my students to make every possible stroke like when you practice golfing.”

He also tells his students to study good art and read books about great artists, even if they don’t work in the medium.

With watercolors, artists usually do not use white paints, but let the light hit the white of the paper, says Gwen Bragg, an Art League instructor.

“If anything is going to be white, we try to teach them to preserve the paper,” Mrs. Bragg says. “For their first lessons, they use only black paint. They can focus on brushwork and technique without having to worry about matching and mixing color.”

Eggs and eggshells are excellent subjects for beginners trying to create white, without using white paint, she says.

“There are convex and concave surfaces,” Mrs. Bragg says. “There are light and shadows. There are sharp edges and curves. There is a lot to practice and grasp.”

After working with eggs and eggshells, sometimes Mrs. Bragg has her students paint apples in a basket with drapery.

Beginners need to devote hours of practice to painting before creating a masterpiece, says Susan Herron, an instructor at the Art League.

She says many of her students are accomplished in other fields and think they will automatically master painting with little effort.

“Don’t put the pressure on yourself to do masterpieces yet,” Ms. Herron says. “You can’t master watercolors in a week. It’s not realistic. When you are a beginner, if you keep it simple, you can do beautiful paintings.”

She suggests that her students limit their beginning works to 12 shapes and three or four colors.

“As people learn the basics, then it is time to explore composition, arranging things on the page, which is very important,” Ms. Herron says.

A more experienced painter should come up with a personal vision for their work, she says.

“It’s like writing,” Ms. Herron says. “When you learn to write, you learn structure. As an experienced writer, you have to have substance.”