Atie beginning the workshop.
I stumbled across the
Watercolour I'm in Love workshops on Instagram by chance. Ms. Atie J., who goes by the handle @wkndiminlove has been running these fun workshops for the past month or so on weekends. What began as a casual watercolour picnic session has now become a regular class that Ms. Atie conducts, mostly for beginners.
However, there were quite a few repeat attendees in the class I attended, which was Ms. Atie's fourth ever session.
Artwork by teacher Atie.
During the week, Ms. Atie works in graphic design and illustration - she studied Fine Art and majored in Painting. During the workshop, you can see some of her own watercolour pieces adorning the wall at the space she rents for the workshop. These were the reason why I was so driven to join the class - I loved seeing her beautiful art pieces on her Instagram feed!
While not all her workshops are held here - you will have to check her Instagram for up to date venues - Sebelas at Jalan Senangin, Bangsar has become a sort of regular location for these classes. The house is nestled in a quiet suburban neighbourhood in Bangsar, not too far from the NSTP building and a five minute drive from the Bangsar LRT station.
The entire class.
The classes are about 15 people to a session, and fill up really fast. You can contact Ms. Atie at weekendiminlove@gmail.com to find out more about upcoming workshops and availability. It costs RM150 per person for a workshop session, covering use of a paint palette, watercolour paper, and a food break.
Our workstation for the day.
The workshops start from 2 pm and end at 6 pm. The first half covers the basics - working with shapes, considering the light source, painting shadows. We have to bring our own supplies to the class, such as brushes and watercolour. Ms. Atie provides the watercolour paper for us to use during the class. There are many different techniques to watercolour, but for this session we focused on the 'wet on wet' and 'graded wash' technique.
Painting in gradients.
I really enjoyed painting the gradient swatches seen above. There's something very therapeutic about watching the colours blending together. As Atie says, paint to de-stress, and don't stress while you paint!
Time for a snack break!
After the first half, we got a 15 minute snack break. Atie always gets
Root Cellar KL to cater for her workshops, and their spread is really yummy. It's mostly finger food, but definitely filling - and the food presentation is lovely. My favourite is the limau nipis (key lime) bundt cake. So creamy and delicious!
Final products.
Finally, we come to the second part of the workshop, where we create our own standalone piece, or 'masterpiece' as Ms. Atie calls it. For the rest of the session, we worked on our ideas while Ms. Atie moved from student to student, checking on our progress and helping us out when we needed it. And at the very end, each student gets a nice black frame to keep our artwork in.
All in all, I had a really enjoyable Sunday, painting away and learning some new techniques. Definitely worth a try, especially if you're new to watercolour painting and want to start with the basics.
