Course Description

As I stood in front of the work of Turner at Tate Britain, I knew I wanted to do quick studies of his work with you. As the summer skies are coming to a close and the skies of fall and winter come before us, let’s paint skies with Turner.

We will dive into the private sketchbooks of J. M. W. Turner. We will study his watercolor skies and see how the practice of keeping a sketchbook impacted future work. Over his lifetime he filled more than three hundred small sketchbooks which were his daily companions. You could often find him lying on his back capturing the world above.

Using a watercolor sketchbook, watercolors in Turner’s palette and references of his work we will practice his techniques and sketchbook practices. If you love history, getting into the mind of an artist and love learning how to capture the world around you I hope you will join me for the next Meet Me in the Studio live Zoom session.

Techniques Taught in this Course

• Short discussion about JMW Turner
• Review of some of his skies sketchbook work
• Turner color palette and techniques
• Basic sketching and composition of his work
• Watercolor techniques to practice creating skies
• Use Turner references and also our own images of skies