Welcome to the Adventure Art Academy! I am so glad you are here. Whether you are brand new to watercolor or an experienced painter, this page will help you get oriented to our learning space and find the classes to get you started!
With over 20 painting lessons, recordings from every live demo, and other bonus content, there is a lot here! So, I made this page to help you find your way around. And, please don't hesitate to email me with any questions or for a customized learning plan - I love reading about what you want to paint and sending you a curated list of classes. My email just for students is [email protected].
And lastly, I want to share a favorite saying that guides a lot of my painting practice:
"We aren't always going to poop out a masterpiece!" Watercolors are an amazingly beautiful but also willful medium. Sometimes paintings will turn out, and sometimes they will be a wonderful mess; both are part of the process and help us learn. After 12 years of working with watercolor, I still experience the highs and lows of this process!
I am so excited to paint with you! I made a little welcome video below, so I can say hi!
- Claire Giordano
For the best experience, view this page on a desktop or tablet (some images are cropped on mobile devices).
I am currently making some updates to the class pages, and the video below will be updated once I am finished making changes!!! For now, everything should be easier to find from the Library page!
Additional Website Tips:
- When you arrive at the main classes dashboard, be sure to scroll down so you can see the image column and notes from Claire. Every image in the righthand column links to an area of our virtual classroom including a calendar with info for all upcoming live sessions.
- In each Adventure Lesson, the reference images and other downloads are always located in the composition section via a link located just below the video window (you may need to scroll down a tad to see it!).
- Each main lesson is uploaded in HD. To verify that you computer is playing it at the best resolution possible, click the little gear icon at the bottom right of the video window and make sure "1080" is selected. (Live demo's and bonus workshops are at a lower resolution due to Zoom limitations).
I recommend that you begin by checking out the Outdoor Watercolor Intro video series. This multi-part lesson walks you through some warm-up sketches, explores color mixing, and breaks down some of my frequently used techniques. The video is 1.5 hours long, but is broken into sections so you can start and come back to it as often as you want.
Click the image to go to the lesson, or click here.
The video also shares some of my go-to materials, which you can also learn more about (and see the most current version my painting kit) on our main Student Resources Page.
At this point, each of us is going to be at a different place in our personal creative journey, and EVERY step is equally valuable and awesome. I am just proud of you for being here, and taking these first steps in your unique painting adventure. I hope you are proud of yourself, too!
After doing the Start Here Lesson, there are are few options. There is no right or wrong way to engage with the content I made for you - it is up to you, and what you are most interested in and feels good to you. And don't be afraid to jump around and try things out!!
Whether you want a bit more time to practice or are ready to dive into a specific landscape lesson, Here are a few options for next steps.
And don't forget - EVERY painting is an adventure, regardless of how small or large or if we are inside and outside! The most important thing is to have fun along the way, and I am so excited to paint with you!
Go to the Main Adventure Lessons:
If you are feeling ready to jump into a full length lesson, you can peruse all the classes in both the "Lessons" tab of our classes dashboard, and on the Curriculum Guide page. The main lessons range between 1.25 and 2.5 hours. And, just like the Start Here class, each one is broken into around 10 sections so you can work on a painting intermittently.
These shorter classes focus on techniques such as "Watercolor Mountains Basics" or creating an ink sketch at Mt. Rainier.
More Techniques Practice:
If you want more practice before trying out a full lesson, you can also start with the "Techniques Practice" section of any main lesson published November 2021 or later. This part of the longer lesson is a lot like the Start Here class; in 20-30 minutes we practice all the main techniques of the full painting in a safe space to experiment. You can check out the Crater Lake techniques section here to get started!
Lastly, students often ask me which lessons are "easier" - and this will differ for each artist, because what is "easier" for one person may be a challenge for others. Some lessons are easier to sketch but harder to paint, some are easier to paint but only if we let go of a little control and let the watercolor do its magical thing... you get the idea!
With that said, I listed a few lessons below that I heard current students enjoyed when they were starting out. And, please do feel free to email me, tell me a little bit about you and your painting interests, and I'll get back to you with some recommendations on where to go next. My email just for students is [email protected].
Please note that in the summer I am often in the field painting or at art residencies for extended periods of time. I do my best to stay on top of email, but get behind sometimes! I am always excited to hear from students, and will get back to you as soon as I am able.
Lessons List:
- Painting the Pacific Coast, June 2021.
- Exploring a Sunlit Northwest Forest, March 2021.
- Sea to Trees (especially the second section on the ocean scene!), June 2021.
- Petrified Forest, June 2022.
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Sunrise & Sunset in the Olympic Mountains, Dec. 2021
