Sunlight through Trees in Watercolour with Catherine Beale

Catherine will spend a day exploring themes from her new book ‘Capturing light’, using the beautiful watercolour subject of sunlight filtering through woodland. Watch her stepped demonstrations and learn to build expressive tree shapes from your source photo. Follow her ‘painting cycle’ from fluid, wet-in-wet mixing on the page to sharp detail and lifting-off paint until your own subtle landscape emerges from the page. The day will be full of demonstrations designed to show the full range of techniques Catherine employs in her work.

During the morning, we will adapt source photos and colour schemes to suit the desired subject and express atmosphere. We will develop a plan to ‘lock’ light in by saving white paper. We will practice wet-in-wet techniques, building up successive tree forms in controlled tones to create a wood.

After lunch, students will deepen shaded areas using thick tubed paint, and unify other areas through unifying layers. We will look to add subtle ‘lifted off’ marks that glow, and develop detail.

At the end, we will review composition and consider unifying layers and cropping, alongside other trouble shooting techniques.

Catherine has painted professionally for nearly thirty years and has specialised in watercolours for the last fifteen. She is an award-winning member of the Society of Women Artists and frequently demonstrates in London’s Mall Galleries. Her new watercolour landscape book ‘Capturing Light’ is published by Search Press and reached the top ten in Amazon’s bestseller list. It explores her particular range of watercolour techniques as part of their ‘Innovative Artist Series’ which will be explored in a range of articles in 2024 in The Artist Magazine. Catherine enjoys painting watercolour portraits and landscapes to commission and exploring the landscape for exhibition and teaching trips.