Landscape & Abstraction: Painting and/or Drawing

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Landscape & Abstraction with Josette Urso

Landscape & Abstraction with Josette Urso

Cost: $315.00

4 In-person sessions. 

Mondays, April 7–May 5, 2025 (Skip date: April 21)

6:15 PM–9:15 PM

Registration opens on January 2, 2025.

Register Online


The complexity of the landscape makes it a fitting subject for anyone interested in merging observation and abstraction through painting and/or drawing.  

Work indoors from reproductions and photographs to be prepared for future open-air painting and drawing. Perfect your skills with layout, spatial relationships, color, paint handling and mark making, while at the same time emphasizing simplification and reinterpretation of your subject. 

Speed of execution and economy of vision will be encouraged, as students identify and express the structural core and emotional impact of their subject. Students will execute numerous quick studies and develop more finished works while exploring various ways of making marks and handling paint.  

This class is ideal for anyone from the beginner to the more advanced student who wants to expand their vision.  

Required Supplies 

  • Scrap Paper  
  • Landscape photographs, postcards or other reproductions  

Materials list for students who will be painting: 

  • Advice about paints brands: 
    • Choose professional quality watercolors in tubes: recommended brands are Winsor & Newton, Schmincke, Sennelier, Urtrecht, Old Holland
    • Avoid student grade watercolors and the brands Winton and Cotman!
  • REQUIRED COLORS 
    • Alizarin Crimson (a cool red) 
    • Cadmium Red Medium (a warm red) 
    • Cadmium Yellow Light 
    • Ultramarine Blue 
    • Neutral Tint (this is a very dark - dark color) 
    • Yellow Ochre 
  • OPTIONAL COLORS 
    • Windsor Blue (green shade) or Phthalo Turquoise 
    • Prussian Blue and/or Indigo 
    • Titanium White (watercolor or gouache) 
  • OTHER MATERIALS
    • Watercolor Palette - a white palette made of plastic, metal or ceramic. The “John Pike” is a standard palette with a lid, but you can also use other white surfaces such as a dinner plate, enameled baking tray, or plastic disposable party plates (often found at the dollar store).  
    • Brushes - choice of medium to large flats and rounds. Don’t be shy of large brushes. 
    • Papers Pads, Blocks or Sheets. An assortment of surface types is recommended: cold press watercolor (has more texture) or hot press (smoother). This is a good opportunity to experiment. 11”x 14” or 18” x 24” are good sizes.  
    • Paper Towels  
    • 2 or 3 water containers 
    • White or off-white Drafting or Nichiban Tape   
    • Pencils, gum eraser, straight edge or ruler 

 Materials list for students who prefer to draw: 

  • Drawing Tools a small variety of fine point and bold pens and/or pencils of your choice.  Some possibilities include:  Kuretake brush pens, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens, Pigma Micron Pens, Winsor and Newton Watercolor Markers, Sharpies, Ebony Pencils, China Markers.  Color is OK too! 
  • General Purpose Drawing Pad (approx. 11 x 14 “, medium weight, smooth and white) or any paper or surface you currently have available. 

Course Code: DR201

Instructor(s): Josette Urso

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.