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Strong Starts: Designing Paintings That Work
Susan Stuller | Watercolor | March 15 - 17, 2027
Using this colorful and dramatic bubble painting as a vehicle for learning, students will explore the design and composition principles that separate good paintings from great ones. Susan will demonstrate how strong value patterns, focal points, shape design, and visual movement work together to create compelling watercolor paintings.
Through demonstrations, exercises, and hands-on painting, students will complete this striking watercolor while gaining practical design skills they can apply to every painting they create in the future.
As a special bonus, on the final day students will explore techniques for reworking existing paintings using gesso and other methods, discovering how to rescue paintings that aren't working and transform them into stronger, more successful pieces.
Workshops fill quickly—secure your spot early
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A completed watercolor painting featuring the colorful bubble project
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A clearer understanding of why some paintings work and others fall flat
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Practical design and composition tools you can use in future paintings
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Greater confidence creating strong value patterns and focal points
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New approaches for improving and reworking existing paintings
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Fresh ideas for turning problem paintings into stronger work
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This workshop is ideal for watercolor painters who want to strengthen their design and composition skills, create more compelling paintings, and better understand how to improve paintings that aren’t quite working.
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How to design stronger watercolor paintings from the start
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Using value patterns to create structure and impact
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Creating clear focal points and visual movement
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Shape design and composition essentials
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How color, contrast, and placement guide the viewer’s eye
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Techniques for reworking paintings with gesso
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Practical ways to rescue and improve unfinished or unsuccessful paintings
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March 15 - 17, 2027
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9:00 am – 4:00 pm (one-hour lunch)
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Fee: $405
Susan Stuller, NWS, TWSA-Master, is an award-winning watercolor artist and instructor known for her strong design sense, expressive use of color, and ability to help students strengthen the foundations of their paintings.
Her teaching focuses on practical, usable concepts that help artists make better decisions before and during the painting process.
Through demonstrations, exercises, and individual guidance, Susan helps students understand how design, composition, value, and focal points work together to create more successful watercolor paintings.