Streamed lesson "Architecture Scene. Sketching in Watercolor and Ink" in Recording

was live on October 04, 2026

⏱ Total duration: ~1,45 hours
📹 Recording available with lifetime access /Subscription access

💎 Part of the Flow room subscription collection: Emerald, Lapis Lazuli, Amethyst

What if you painted the building before you drew it? In this streamed lesson we flip the usual order. We start with a loose, abstract wash of color, warm shapes balanced against cool ones, sprinkles of clear water for texture, and no lines to stay inside. Only then do we find the architecture inside that wash, and it turns out to be a far freer and more playful way to sketch a street.

We work from European travel photos across two sketches.

The first is a rooftop street scene where a glowing orange facade meets a cool gray neighbor. That meeting point becomes the heart of the sketch. Soft edges and bright color sit on one side, crisp brown-ink fountain pen work on the other, and the contrast between the two approaches carries the whole piece. Along the way we invent buildings that aren't in the photo, bend the perspective on purpose, and finish with opaque crayons for an autumn tree glowing against a dark wash.

The second sketch is a grand building with a turquoise patina roof, built on a granulating wash that we move with a sprayer and gravity. We never draw the building in perspective. We follow its shadows and its rhythm instead.

You'll learn how to choose a small palette that still gives you warm and cool versions of every value, and how to layer watercolor pencil into a damp wash. You'll practice drawing shadows and values instead of objects, and deciding what to show and what to leave out. You'll see when a water-soluble pen helps and when a waterproof one is the safer choice.

Most of all you'll learn to let the wash lead and make your decisions on the go, a skill that pays off every time a planned painting surprises you.

Enroll and the full recording is yours with lifetime access, or included for as long as your subscription is active if you're joining through Flow Room. 

Delivered as an unlisted YouTube link. Lifetime access.