FOR 2024 Plein Air Watercolor - Instructor Julie Crouch

Broaden your artistic horizons by painting outdoors in watercolor.  You’ll engage all 5 senses at this beautiful mountain retreat, creating fresh and spontaneous watercolor sketches by immersing yourself in the moment.  

Some people say that watercolor is the hardest medium to master.  But there are ways to make it easier and fun!  When we’re having fun doing it, we sketch and paint more which is the real secret to becoming a better sketcher and painter – brush time!

In this class, you’ll learn how to simplify your approach in order to make your outdoor watercolor sketches successful by:

  • working small in sketchbooks, seeing the big shapes first and avoiding too much detail

  • learning the importance of values (lights to darks) and how to see them in the real world

  • simplifying subjects into shapes of value

  • keeping supplies to a minimum in order to maximize freedom to explore the beautiful surroundings, finding subjects that inspire you to paint

  • learning strategies to make outdoor painting fun and fast, including taking advantage of your phone’s camera as a tool to make better plein air paintings

POSITIVE RESULTS WITH NEGATIVE PAINTING

Learning to paint negative shapes (in other words, the spaces around and between the positive shapes of your subject) is the quickest way to take your watercolors to the next level.  You’ll learn what to look for when painting negative shapes and how to create depth in your paintings.  Julie’s demonstrations and eye-opening exercises allow you to get hands-on practice.  You will be amazed when objects “magically” appear in a most beautiful way as you learn to paint what is NOT the subject of your painting.

Julie Crouch is a graduate of UCLA and Loyola Law School.  When she retired from practicing law in 2002, she started taking watercolor classes and hasn’t put her brushes down since.  She has studied with Don Andrews, Gerald Brommer, Ratindra Das, Frank Eber, Tom Fong, Frank Francese, Linda Kemp, Fealing Lin, Barbara Nechis, Carl Purcell, Iain Stewart, Brenda Swenson, Mel Stabin, Joseph Stoddard, Christine Sullivan, Chris Van Winkle, Frank Webb and many local artists.  

Julie teaches watercolor classes at Creative Arts Group in Sierra Madre and has done demonstrations and workshops for many watercolor organizations.

Julie has served as President and many other positions on the Board of Mid-Valley Arts League and has also served on the Boards of National Watercolor Society and Watercolor West.  She is a Signature Member of Watercolor West and Western Colorado Watercolor Society.  Her work has been juried into several national and international exhibitions.  She is one of the administrators of Urban Sketchers Los Angeles.  She received the Valley Watercolor Society Top Honors Award in their 2012 and 2015 juried exhibitions.  Julie lives in La Canada with her husband of over 40 years, Chuck Crouch.