Watercolor Class in the Salt Lake Valley
Last year, I finally took watercolor classes. It's something I have wanted to get into since I learned a little ceramic watercolor in South Korea. I made friends there with a woman who owned a little shop where she painted watercolor flowers and scenery on all kinds of dishes, and she taught private lessons too. (I guess it's kind of like Color Me Mine, but I have never been there.) We exchanged watercolor lessons for English lessons for her daughter and a friend. Since then, I have wanted to learn wheel-throwing pottery, watercolor, and I want to do some more ceramic painting too.
Three and a half years after returning from Seoul I decided it was finally time to really learn how to paint. I discovered that watercolor and oil painting classes are taught at Gardener Village in South Jordan.
At the Art Cottage you can have weekly lessons at $42 a month and $35 for a start up kit.
First pad of paper, color palette and a pencil and eraser. They let me use the brushes at the studio but I had to buy some to use at home. It was nice to have then available at class because it was one less thing to remember every week.
The Art Cottage sells gelato too! If I remember correctly, I got a small discount while I was enrolled in a class. Sitting down with pistachio or berry gelato in a studio brimming with natural light was the perfect way to start my painting sessions!
Bonnie was my instructor and on my first day she taught me all about color theory and had me practice at it. It was the perfect foundation especially because I had never taken an official painting or drawing class before. From there, she told me to pick something I would like to try and she would instruct me how to go about it. She was always there to help me when I couldn't figure out the right method and she showed me how to easily paint something to scale.
Bonnie has been practicing watercolor for over a decade. I loved learning from her because of her earnest enthusiasm. Whenever anyone finished a painting she would hold it up and have them stand back to look at it. "Don't you love it?" She would always say.
When I was working on my lily picture, Bonnie exclaimed that she would not have even attempted something like it in her first two years of learning watercolor. You have to try to hate painting with someone so supportive by your side.
I'm still at the point where most of my pictures are copies from something I found on the internet or a combination of multiple pictures I found. Even when I am not creating anything original, I enjoy the practice. It's always worthwhile to learn a new skill.
My favorite thing about working with Bonnie was the fact that she didn't discourage me no matter how difficult my current endeavor was. She wouldn't say anything about it, she would just show me a method or two and give me some tips to get me started.
For those of you who get into watercolor or any kind of paint here is my advice: If it's something you want to paint, go for it! You don't have to settle for an easy painting to copy just because you are a beginner. A challenge will most likely be frustrating but it is also a great learning experience. And if you have a grand vision of an original you want to paint, keep going until it becomes a reality.
Now here is something for all of you living in the Salt Lake Valley!
The Art Cottage offers Paint Night parties with all supplies, instruction, and gelato included! It's $25 a person and would be a fantastic date night or girls night out activity!
Let me now if you want to go together sometime!
If you were about to sign up for a watercolor class, what would be the first thing you would want to paint?
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