🎨 15 weeks of structured teaching with clear projects to follow
🧑🎨 Suitable for keen beginners through to experienced hobby painters
🕰️ Flexible – 15 live lessons plus recordings to watch any time
🌍 Join from anywhere – all sessions and resources are online
📥 Includes downloadable PDFs, reference images and guided projects
This online course takes students on a tour of six influential British watercolourists:
J.M.W. Turner – atmosphere and light
Rowland Hilder- crisp silhouettes, and clean tonal design
John Sell Cotman – calm design and structure
Edward Seago – tonal harmony and restraint
Edward Wesson – bold, loose brushwork
Sir William Russell Flint – luminous glazing and elegant figures
Across 15 weeks, we’ll look at how they worked, why their paintings still feel so fresh, and most importantly, how to bring elements of their style into our own work.
Each week we will copy one of these watercolours followed by a second week where we will paint an original in the same style as the artist.
Greta bridge; view from the bank of the river Tees with rocks in the foreground, a single-arched bridge in the mid-distance, a house at left, trees beyond. c. 1805
Watercolour over graphite sketch
(1905–1993) was a prolific and highly fluent artist. He taught himself the medium and later became a president of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours.
Norham Castle, Sunrise is a painting by English painter J. M. W. Turner, created around 1845. The painting depicts Norham Castle, overlooking the River Tweed, the border between England and Scotland.
Edward Seago's watercolors are known for their fresh, spontaneous, and economical brushwork. He was adept at capturing a sense of place with great speed and skill, a quality admired by his close friend Prince Philip.
Edward Wesson was a British painter known for his simple yet elegant watercolors of coasts and rivers. Born on April 29, 1910 in London, United Kingdom. We will paint two of his watercolours
Cecilia Green, the favorite model and long-term muse of the renowned watercolor artist Sir William Russell Flint. Flint painted Cecilia in many of his watercolors and red chalk drawings over a 15-year period
🎨By the end of the course, you’ll have gained:
✨ The atmosphere and glow of Turner Warm underwashes · expressive skies · wet-into-wet drama
✨ The clarity and simplicity of Cotman Flat washes · large shapes · peaceful design
✨ The bold brushwork of Wesson Confidence · big brushes · expressive movement
✨ The tonal harmony of Seago Soft skies · gentle transitions · balanced accents
✨ The winter structure of Hilder Limited palettes · silhouettes · strong horizons
✨ The luminous transparency of Russell Flint Layered washes · elegant linework · subtle colour
Every lesson gives you a new tool, a new way of seeing, and a new approach to your own watercolor painting.
Each artist is taught through two structured lessons:
Lesson A — Master Copy We analyse a chosen painting and recreate it stroke by stroke, studying the artist’s core techniques.
Lesson B — Your Own Painting You then apply what you’ve learned to your own chosen landscape, using the artist’s methods in your own voice.This “copy then create” approach is one of the most effective ways to grow both skill and confidence.
12 full-length video lessons
Replay access to every class
PDF worksheets and step-by-step guides
Reference images and artist notes
A growing project portfolio (12 paintings!)
A supportive, structured learning environment
Everything is designed so you can work along with me or paint later in your own time.
This course is perfect if you:
Enjoy traditional watercolour and want to go deeper
Want to learn why these historic artists painted the way they did
Like structured lessons with clear outcomes
Want a challenge, but in a supportive and relaxed environment
Enjoy trying new techniques and absorbing new influences
Whether you’re experienced or just enthusiastic, you’ll gain something valuable from this journey.
Full schedule will be emailed to all who register.
💻 How to Join Click below to register your interest or enrol when the course opens:
👉 [Sign Up / Join the Course] Spaces are unlimited, but early registration ensures you receive all updates, materials, and your welcome pack before the first lesson.
❤️ A Personal Note Eric This course has been a joy to create.Each of these British watercolourists has influenced my own work for decades, and teaching their methods feels like sharing a piece of my own artistic journey.I hope you’ll join me in rediscovering the beauty of British watercolour this January.
See you in the studio,
Eric
🖼️ COURSE OVERVIEW
Rediscovering the British WatercolouristsA structured 12-lesson journey exploring Turner, Cotman, Wesson, Seago, Hilder, and Russell Flint — using the powerful Two-Lesson Method:A: Master Copy → B: Your Own Painting Inspired by Their Style
Rowland Hilder (1905–1993) is one of the most recognisable British watercolourists of the 20th century, famed for his evocative winter landscapes, stark silhouettes, and beautifully controlled tonal palettes. His paintings feel unmistakably British — cold hedgerows, frostbitten fields, stark trees against a pale winter sky, and windswept coastal marshes.Where Turner expressed drama, Cotman expressed clarity, Wesson expressed boldness, and Seago expressed harmony, Hilder expressed season.He is the great painter of winter — its quietness, emptiness, and structural beauty.Studying Hilder teaches watercolourists how to use limited palettes, crisp silhouettes, and clean tonal design to create compelling scenes that feel both atmospheric and authentic.
Sir William Russell Flint (1880–1969) is one of Britain’s greatest figurative watercolourists and a master of transparency, delicacy, and refined control. His paintings shimmer with light, atmosphere, and quiet elegance. Though he is especially known for his beautifully rendered figures, often in Mediterranean settings, his landscapes and architectural scenes are equally exquisite.Flint represents a different dimension of British watercolour — not the austere structure of Cotman, the boldness of Wesson, or the atmospheric balance of Seago, but grace, light, and rhythmic calm.His work shows how watercolour can be luminous, technically brilliant, and emotionally evocative without ever appearing forced or overworked.Studying Flint is a lesson in refinement, patience, and the art of letting watercolour breathe.
John Sell Cotman (1782–1842) is one of the quiet giants of British watercolour. Where Turner brought drama and light, Cotman brought purity, clarity, and unshakable simplicity. His watercolours are built on calm, flat washes, beautifully ordered shapes, and a remarkable ability to reduce a scene to its essential forms.Cotman teaches us that watercolour doesn’t always have to be loose, emotional, or dramatic. It can also be clear, composed, thoughtful, and deeply restful. His restraint is not a limitation—it is a powerful artistic choice.In learning Cotman, students discover the beauty of design over detail, tone over colourfulness, and simplicity over decoration.
Edward Wesson (1910–1983) stands as one of the most distinctive and influential British watercolourists of the 20th century. His paintings appear simple at first glance—broad washes, large shapes, big brushes, minimal detail—but the apparent simplicity is deceptive. Beneath these economical marks lies an extraordinary sensitivity to design, tone, and atmosphere.Wesson’s paintings teach us that confidence is not bravado; it is clarity. His work asks us to strip away the unnecessary and to find the most important shapes, the strongest tonal relationships, and the boldest, cleanest brushstrokes.In a world saturated with overworked watercolours, Wesson reminds us that less can be infinitely more.
Edward Seago (1910–1974) occupies a special place in British art — a painter whose work is both technically superb and emotionally understated. His watercolours embody a quiet elegance: loose yet controlled, atmospheric yet grounded, simple yet deeply refined.Where Turner pursued drama and Wesson pursued boldness, Seago pursued balance — balance of tone, shape, colour, atmosphere, and emotion. His paintings are composed with such natural grace that they feel effortless, yet beneath this apparent ease is a profound understanding of composition and value relationships.Seago teaches us that watercolour can be calm, lyrical, and harmonious, without losing freshness or vitality.He is the poet of quiet light.
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) is arguably Britain’s most celebrated painter and one of the most influential artists in the history of landscape painting. His watercolours — luminous, expressive, and emotionally charged — pushed the medium far beyond topographical accuracy and into the realm of atmosphere, light, and the sublime.While other watercolourists captured the appearance of a place, Turner captured its weather, its mood, and its emotion.For the student of watercolour, Turner offers a powerful lesson:paint the feeling first, the detail second.His work teaches us that watercolour is not just a technique, but a way of seeing — a way of transforming sensation into visual poetry.