Back when I was attending classes at the American Academy of Art my watercolor instructor Irving Shapiro would do a monthly assignment where each week on a certain day we would start the painting with one color the first week and then 2 colors on a different painting the 2nd week, going to a 3 color study the 3rd week and ending with full color the 4th. I found this assignment to be very helpful in so many ways that I decided that I would bring this assignment back to all my students.

 

This week we will start with a one-color watercolor painting and I suggest that you use a dark color or even just using a black. Try to work with a full range of values when working with one color.

 

Next week we will work with 2 colors and for those colors, I would recommend a cool and warm color.

In the 3rd week, we will work with 3 colors and I will show you how you can pick those 3 colors in that 3rd-week newsletter.

 

In the 4th week, we will get back to full color but I will want you to do a small one color sketch of the full-color scene.

Let's have some fun and learn a bunch in the next 4 weeks!
David