MASTERCLASS
RIGHT Fortitude
Coffee, Edinburgh,
13x42cm
BELOW, CLOCKWISE
FROM TOP LEFT
Peña Coffee
(detail), 22x15cm;
Sarah, 59x84cm;
The Brew Lab,
Edinburgh,
44x15cm; Dear
Green Coffee Cups
(detail), 28x16cm.
All watercolour
on paperhit a block. I don’t want to be a ‘good sketcher’, it makes
zero sense to me.”
Many in the art world clearly value Wil’s skills as a
watercolourist. He is currently working on a first tutorial
book for Quarto, Learn to Paint in Watercolour with 50
Paintings, which involves him creating a painting every day
and breaking down his process into steps. His advice to
those experimenting with the medium? Throw out most of
the paints in your starter kit and upgrade to a better palette.
“Some watercolour kits you get are really simple – they
bulk up their colours with quite cheap pigments. A lot of
people get really disheartened when the first start using
them because the results don’t bear any relation to what
they are seeing, and they get put off. But if you have a good
palette to start with, you will be more inclined to pursue it.”
When it comes to sketching, he says the best tip is to
start with what matters to you: “Draw your garden, cafés or
museums, just to build up a visual language. And don’t post
things online until you feel comfortable – just get something
on paper first. Some people are naturally inclined to want to
draw accurately, while others want to follow their own path.
Both approaches are equally valid.”
Wil initially chose watercolours because they were
affordable, fast drying and handy to transport. “I was
essentially colouring in,” he says. “I would make notes and
come back later on to fill them in. It was only later on that
I began to use the medium to explore what is possible.”
His current inspirations include the Danish painterWIL IS ONE OF
LIFE’S GREAT
OBSERVERS,
FREQUENTLY
FOUND IN THE
CORNER OF A
GLASGOW CAFÉ
>Artists & Illustrators 2118 Wil Freeborn.indd 21 18/02/2016 12:51