{"id":837,"date":"2026-07-28T14:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T14:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lite.buildprosites.com\/sketchbook\/home\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T11:21:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T11:21:26","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lite.buildprosites.com\/sketchbook\/","title":{"rendered":"The Open Sketchbook \u2014 Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tWatercolour courses, Paddington<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Learn to see like a painter.<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Open Sketchbook is a small Paddington studio where you learn to stop fighting watercolour and start following it \u2014 short lessons, small classes, and critique from a teacher who actually looks.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSee the courses<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Mara\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tWhy this school exists<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Watercolour rewards the relaxed hand.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Most beginners are taught to control the medium \u2014 and watercolour punishes control. The pigment wants to move, the water wants to decide, and the painters you admire learned to negotiate instead of command.<\/p>

Every course here teaches that negotiation: what to decide, what to leave to the water, and how a small daily page beats a perfect weekend painting every time.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\tHow the teaching works<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Three habits every course is built on.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The method is the same whether you’re on lesson one or year three.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Short lessons, real momentum<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Nothing over twenty minutes. You watch one idea, paint one page, and the brush is wet before the excuse arrives.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Critique that actually looks<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Flagship students hand in pages and get them back marked up \u2014 what worked, what drowned, and the one thing to try next.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Sketchbook first, frame later<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The sketchbook is the gym, not the gallery. Fill pages without ceremony and the frameable ones arrive on their own.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\tFrom the students<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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What changes after a few weeks of pages.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cThe short exercises are sneaky \u2014 I was improving before I noticed I was practising.\u201d<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Ruth A.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Foundations \u00b7 Ashgrove<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u201cThe critique on Landscapes is worth the term fee on its own. Mara found the same mistake in three of my pages and fixed all of them with one sentence.\u201d<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Tom\u00e1s H.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Expressive Landscapes \u00b7 West End<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cI've filled four sketchbooks since the Habit course. My phone gallery used to be screenshots; now it's pages.\u201d<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Wren K.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sketchbook Habit \u00b7 Paddington<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\tThe school in numbers<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Small pages, a small studio.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Seven years of teaching the relaxed hand, all here in Paddington.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t10<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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seats in a class, at most<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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terms run a year<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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courses on offer<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t2019<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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teaching in Paddington since<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t

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Your first page is twenty minutes away.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSee the courses<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watercolour courses, Paddington Learn to see like a painter. The Open Sketchbook is a small Paddington studio where you learn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-837","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lite.buildprosites.com\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lite.buildprosites.com\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lite.buildprosites.com\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lite.buildprosites.com\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lite.buildprosites.com\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lite.buildprosites.com\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":893,"href":"https:\/\/lite.buildprosites.com\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/837\/revisions\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lite.buildprosites.com\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}