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Course

Watercolor I: Basic Techniques and Materials

ART-X406.25

10 WEEKS | LIVE ONLINE | SPRING & FALL QUARTERS

Watercolors are a brilliant, versatile and a fascinating medium to work with! Develop basic painting skills in transparency, washes, glazing, composition, color theory, color mixing and value along with masking techniques, and additive and subtractive methods of using paints. Each meeting will focus on developing basic skills while encouraging individual style and creativity. Class format consists of short lectures, painting demonstrations, group and individual critiques and individually supervised exercises.

What You Will Learn:

  • Knowledge of the tools and materials fundamental to the practice of watercolor painting. 

  • The basic techniques, elements, and principles applicable to the art of watercolor painting.

  • Basic terminology necessary to the practice of watercolor.

  • The technical use of the tools and materials of the watercolor medium.

  • How to handle the watercolor medium as a form of personal expression.

  • How to sharpen your sense of perception.

  • The ability to demonstrate a variety of basic watercolor techniques - their materials, methods, and suitability to subject matter.

  • To become more aesthetically minded - more sensitive to the unique character of the watercolor medium, more sensitive to the diversity of subject matter manifest in nature and all created things.

Quarters Offered: Spring, Fall | Live Online
Current Course Fee: $350
Course Length: 10 weeks
Prerequisite: Recommended prerequisite of Drawing I: Focus on Perception (ART-40166).
Note: First meeting mandatory.
Elective course for Art and the Creative Process professional certificate. 

Materials: Full list of materials will be distributed at first meeting.

Course Information

Live Online
3.00 units
$350.00

Course sessions

Closed

Section ID:

E 00005257

Class type:

Synchronous web-based class meetings that are scheduled to meet online at published times (time/date).

Textbooks:

All course materials are included unless otherwise stated.

Policies:

Withdrawal End Date:

09/29/2026

Schedule:

Date Day Start End
9/22/2026 Tuesday 06:00 p.m. 09:00 p.m.
9/29/2026 Tuesday 06:00 p.m. 09:00 p.m.
10/6/2026 Tuesday 06:00 p.m. 09:00 p.m.
10/13/2026 Tuesday 06:00 p.m. 09:00 p.m.
10/20/2026 Tuesday 06:00 p.m. 09:00 p.m.
10/27/2026 Tuesday 06:00 p.m. 09:00 p.m.
11/3/2026 Tuesday 06:00 p.m. 09:00 p.m.
11/10/2026 Tuesday 06:00 p.m. 09:00 p.m.
11/17/2026 Tuesday 06:00 p.m. 09:00 p.m.
12/1/2026 Tuesday 06:00 p.m. 09:00 p.m.
Closed

Instructor:

Michelle Mccunney
Michelle Mccunney

Michelle received a master's in visual arts from the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas (UNAM) in Mexico City and bachelor's in visual arts from the University of California San Diego. She has taught painting, drawing and illustration for university programs in Mexico and the US since 1988. Michelle's art revolves mainly around the animals she observes, and their stories of habitat loss.

She teaches the following courses for the Professional Certificate in Art and the Creative Process:

Drawing I: Focus on Perception
- Drawing II: Refining Technique
Watercolor I: Basic Techniques and Materials
Intermediate Watercolor
Introduction to Painting 
- Animal Illustration

When Michelle is not teaching she enjoys playing blues and hiking with her family, always keeping an eye out for wildlife. She is working on a book about animal scientists.

Full Bio