“DOG”: Arts Council of Princeton is partnering with the Princeton University Art Museum to provide free, online art-making experiences. “Art Making — Watercolors” features weekly classes taught by Arts Council artist-instructor Barbara DiLorenzo, whose work is shown here. All classes are held on Thursday nights from June 17 through July 22, and begin at 8 p.m.

The Arts Council of Princeton is partnering with the Princeton University Art Museum to provide free, online art-making experiences. “Art Making — Watercolors” features weekly classes taught by Arts Council artist-instructor Barbara DiLorenzo over Zoom, so participants can join live from home. Each week’s lesson features works from the Museum’s collections and is introduced by an art museum student tour guide. All classes, which include closed captions in both English and Spanish, are held on Thursday nights from June 17 through July 22, and begin at 8 p.m.

“Through my years of teaching at the Arts Council of Princeton, I’ve seen how important creativity is to humans of all ages and abilities,” said DiLorenzo. “During the isolation of the pandemic, people from different parts of the world wrote to us to share that the Thursday evening free art classes were something of a lifeline in these challenging times. People spoke of their return to drawing after 30, 40, and even 50 years away. There were also many just starting out, but feeling more comfortable after hearing me talk about erasing and making mistakes constantly.”

“I read stories of multiple generations gathering around the computer to draw together,” she continued. “I’m grateful to the Arts Council of Princeton and the Princeton University Art Museum for bringing art to a wider audience. My personal belief is that everyone is entitled to a creative life, and this program certainly helps to further that mission.”

Learn more and register at artscouncilofprinceton.org. Each live-streamed class is available online weekly and participants can take part using materials they already have at home.

June 17 — Water Reflections: Seascapes are a favorite subject for watercolorists. In contrast to solid structures above the water, reflections can be painted in a loose and playful manner, highlighting watercolor’s unique properties of spontaneity and luminescence. This class will examine patterns of water and light that will make painting marine scenes easier.

June 24 — Embracing Dark Tones in Watercolors: Watercolor can replicate a wide range of light and dark tones. However, many watercolorists are nervous about making their artwork too dark. This class will explore rendering a nightscape in watercolor, maximizing the value scale, and learning not to be afraid as we create beautiful, rich tones in the work.

July 1 — Using Toned Paper and Gouache: To help push the range of values in their watercolor paintings, many artists use a combination of toned papers instead of pure white, with the assistance of gouache paint to bring back areas of the lightest tones. In this class participants will experiment with both, using John Singer Sargent’s painting Bridge of Sighs as an example.

July 8 — Focus on Color Theory: Transitioning from grayscale to color can be a challenge for artists. This class will explore color theory, experimenting with combinations of colors that work well together due to the structure of color schemes.

July 15 — How Light Changes over Distance: For artists who love to paint landscapes, understanding how light changes over distance is important. In this class participants will look closely at Charles Herbert Moore’s painting Water Mill, Simplon Village, painting a copy to learn from his choices regarding values, hues, and their saturations in the foreground, middle ground, and background.

July 22 — The Power of Negative Space: In drawing and painting, a composition can be improved by considering the negative space. In this class participants will work on painting flowers, examining the difference between a solid clump of blossoms and a composition that allows for space between stems and leaves.

Events are part of the Museum’s Late Thursdays programming, made possible in part by Heather and Paul G. Haaga Jr., Class of 1970. Spanish-language live closed-captioning for this program is made possible by the Rapid Response Magic Project of the Princeton University Humanities Council.