Watercolor Academy review by Heidi Cotton

Story and artworks from Heidi Cotton, Correspondence Course student

My name is Heidi Cotton, I am a retired homeschooling mom (my children graduated and went on to college). After a lifetime of not believing I could successfully "art/paint/draw" I was finally convinced it was a skill that could be taught and not solely based on "talent".

I started watercolors in Feb 2018. A previously hated medium because I never appreciated it until I was exposed to artist grade paints and paper (It makes a difference). I fell in love with granulation and the controlled chaos that is watercolor when using it wet in wet. No other medium does that. I acknowledge that with glazing it can be controlled, but I love the freedom of letting the colors mix, push and pull on the paper. My heart lies with the ocean, but I am living most of the year away from it. I use art as my way to escape to it. As you will learn, most of my subjects surround the beach/ocean and all that touches it.

In the past, I have been told "paint what you see and paint with your feelings". My biggest stumbling block was the constantly repeated "there are no rules in art", anything I offered up for critique was always met with positive responses and no suggestions to elevate it. While those responses are lovely, they were inherently not helpful. I had one watercolor instructor a few years ago chastise me for using a technique I later saw in one of the videos here. His exact words: "Why on earth did you do that?". (Come to find out he had originally been an oil painter who switched to watercolors 6 months prior to teach that class. He also declared cadmium yellow transparent, so yeah.... ) Also, I can render better with a paintbrush than I can with a pencil. Not sure why, my past drawing teacher called me "painterly".

I struggled without any meaningful art instruction. Most everything I have learned about watercolors before joining Watercolor Academy was self-taught.

I enrolled in the Correspondence Course because I wanted to get constructive instructions and critique on my artworks.

The Watercolor Academy video lessons are, in short, INVALUABLE. I have learned more in this course than any other tutorials I have watched. And trust me, I have watched HOURS. In this course, I had lessons on color theory, composition, painting techniques (some I have never been exposed to).

Hands down I would recommend this course to other artists. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt this course will elevate my work and artistic vision.

Heidi Cotton

To learn how to paint in watercolor, enroll now: