On Saturday, I held a Watercolour Pencil sketching class at The Johnston Collection, a Melbourne Georgian house museum. A lovely group of eight joined me to learn all about watercolour pencils and then put them to use.
We explored the ground floor rooms of The Johnston Collection’s historic exhibition house, Fairhall (1860), a double-fronted Georgian-style townhouse. Everyone selected objects and interior features to record in their sketchbook, and record their impressions with guidance from me.
The class is all about capturing the moment and we spend 15 minutes in three rooms.
We were fortunate to be inside this lovely space while the temperature dropped and rain fell down on this Spring day.
The example below shows exploring one Faber Castell Watercolour Pencil. Indanthrene Blue. I showed the quick marks and shapes that could be made on the page and how the colour is enhanced when water is added to the page with a waterbrush. The long patch of blue on the right shows the range of colour you can get from the one pencil.
The house is currently presented with the theme Home Comforts. Each room of Fairhall has been re-imagined, revealing new stories about the meaning of ‘home’ in the 1700s and 1800s.
The exhibition focusses on how families lived in the long eighteenth century: a merchant’s dining room; a nursery with dolls house and cradle; a breakfast room to enjoy exotic luxuries such as tea, coffee, chocolate and spices; the commercial world of a gentlemen’s study; an elegant drawing room for a musical soiree; and the work of staff in the kitchen.
Home Comforts features historical quilts, which are integrated into the Collection objects on display. The beautifully preserved quilts have been generously loaned from the private collection of Melbourne-based textile researcher and historian, Janet O’Dell.
If you are interested in joining a class in the future, keep an eye on The Johnston Collection Events page. We are planning our 2026 dates.
The ticket includes a welcome tea or coffee, watercolour pencil class, an on-location sketching experience in Fairhall, and a sketch kit to take home (comprising: sketchbook, 12 Faber-Castell watercolour pencils, and a waterbrush).
No equipment or previous experience is required – just bring your enthusiasm.
