Classes and Workshops
Would you like to learn more about watercolor painting? I have classes and workshops for all levels -- complete beginners as well as more experienced painters who just need some tips. My classes and workshops are held in my studio in Olalla, Washington, and are limited to small class sizes of 4-5 people, which allows for a lot of personalized attention. I pack a lot of information into each class so our pace is fast -- come prepared to work!
Classes are each about 3 hours long. Some are a single class and others are one class per week for six weeks.
Workshops are about 5 - 6 hours long. Some are a single day workshop but others last three to four days in a row.
If the class or workshop you are interested in is full, click the Waitlist button. If enough people are interested, I may be able to add another class/workshop.
If you and 2-3 other friends are interested in setting up a class or workshop together at a time not listed here, email me and we'll see if we can make that work!
Taste Of Watercolor Class
Taste Of Watercolor Class
3 hour single class for people who want to experience using watercolors and think it might be fun to try it out. We’ll be making four small landscapes. Supplies are provided.
My hope is that you will decide that you love watercolors after taking this class! If you want to learn more, you can sign up for my “Introduction to Watercolors” 6-week course for a more comprehensive look at some basic watercolor techniques (you’ll bring your own supplies to that course.)
2 person minimum per class.
| 10/2/24: 2:00-5:00 pm | 5 spots available |
Introduction to Watercolor Techniques Class
Introduction to Watercolor Techniques Class
This course is for anyone that wants to learn or brush up on basic watercolor techniques. 6 weeks, one class per week (3 hours long.)
We will be packing in a lot of information and working together on a series of fun exercises and paintings. Our pace will be fairly fast so come prepared to get to work!
Students bring their own paper and supplies (supply list provided at time of registration.) If you don’t have any supplies at all yet, it will initially cost you about $200 for paper, brushes, paint and some paraphernalia that comes in handy but, except for the paper, you will have leftover supplies to use on future paintings.
Two person minimum per class.
Week #1: Supplies, Brush strokes and the Value scale
We’ll learn about our watercolor supplies and different brush strokes, learn why value is so important and we’ll create a painting using just the value scale.
Week #2: Washes: Wet-on-Wet and Wet-on-Dry
Understanding the difference between wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry is essential for watercolorists. We’ll be practicing both as we paint a sunset landscape. We’ll also learn some other essential techniques like lifting color and creating intentional water blooms.
Week #3: Color Wheel and Color Mixing
Colors and how to mix them are fundamental to watercolor painting. We’ll discuss what's wrong with traditional color wheels, learn a bit about analogous and complement colors and learn how to make color mixing charts for your future reference.
Week #4: Saving the Whites in Your Watercolor Painting
Traditional transparent watercolor doesn’t use the color white so what are you supposed to do? We’ll explore various ways to do that and make a snowy mountain painting.
Week #5: Salt textures, Hard vs Soft Edges and How to transfer an image with graphite tracing paper: We will create a painting that utilizes salt as a texturing technique and will explore what we mean by hard versus soft edges, and how to create them. We’ll paint a winter scene with a chickadee.
Week #6: Negative painting:
For our last week, we will study why negative painting is so important to watercolorists and we will create a painting that’s done entirely using negative painting. We’ll finish up by talking about some next steps that students can take to advance their watercolor skills.
| 10:00 am-1:00 pm: Tuesdays starting 1/21/25 | 3 spots available |
The Next Step: Practice By Copying Other Watercolor Paintings
The Next Step: Practice By Copying Other Watercolor Paintings
Have you already been introduced to basic watercolor techniques and are wondering what's a good next step?
I usually recommend practicing those techniques by trying to copy other watercolor paintings. This is a very helpful step that bridges the gap between learning the techniques versus coming up with your own original paintings.
The artist has already picked the composition, colors and values for you. Your job is to try and figure out how they painted it and try to duplicate that, so that you can work on your planning, technique and problem-solving skills. My job will be to help you troubleshoot as you work through that process.
If you'd rather work on your own painting instead of copying someone else's, that's fine, too! I can still give you tips about how to approach that.
These are individual sessions -- you can sign up for as many or as few as you want! They are not classes. Rather, these are free-style painting sessions where you bring your own painting that you will work on plus a photo of your reference, and I will help where you have questions. You will also have the benefit of seeing what other fellow artists are working on and hearing what kind of problems they are having and how they can solve those problems.
You are free to bring your own watercolor image that you would like to try and paint. If you would like some ideas for possible paintings to copy, here's a link to some I found that I think would be fun to paint.
Depending on how many people are signed up for a session, they could potentially last as long as 3 hours.
Two person minimum per session.
| 5/16/24: 9:00-11:00 am | 1 spot available | ||
| 7/3/24: 9:00-11:00 am | 4 spots available | ||
| 7/17/24: 9:00-11:00 am | 4 spots available | ||
| 7/31/24: 9:00-11:00 am | 4 spots available |
Workshop: Watercolor Mistakes and How To Fix (Most Of) Them
Workshop: Watercolor Mistakes and How To Fix (Most Of) Them
Fixing mistakes in watercolor is a normal part of the painting process. Learn some easy ways to repair many of those imperfections in this one day workshop!
In order to get the most out of this workshop, I recommend that you have previous experience with watercolors including at least these basic techniques:
- Wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry washes
- Building layers of color
- Using different thickness of watercolor to paint with
If you aren't sure that you have the prerequisite watercolor skills, I suggest that you first take my Introduction To Watercolor Techniques Class.
A materials list will be provided upon registration.
2 person minimum per workshop.
| 6/8/24: 9:00 am - 2:30 pm | 3 spots available |
Workshop: How To Mindfully Plan a Watercolor Painting (And Avoid Overworking It)
Workshop: How To Mindfully Plan a Watercolor Painting (And Avoid Overworking It)
Have you struggled with painting an original watercolor? Does it seem overwhelming and you don't know where to even start? Or instead of a fresh and luminous painting, does it looks dull, muddy or scrubbed? We all have, so you're not alone! It's often caused by a lack of preplanning, an essential step for watercolorists.
This 3 day immersion workshop is for artists who are willing to put some effort into the planning before they ever put paint to paper, but who need some guidance about what that means. We will be using a worksheet to carefully preplan our paintings, which will take out most of the guesswork and will give you a framework to actually paint from.
We'll also be talking about what overworking a painting means and how to avoid that.
Once your worksheet is finished, you will be painting your own individual watercolor, with the help of the preplanning details you have outlined in the worksheet.
Your painting may not get completely finished in this workshop but you should have the tools that will help you to finish it at home.
In order to get the most out of this workshop, I recommend that you have previous experience with watercolors including:
● Wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry washes
● Building layers of color, starting with lightest and working to darkest
● Using different thickness of watercolor to paint with
● Familiar with having to pay close attention to how wet your paper and brush are at all times
● Familiar with a few different ways to achieve soft versus hard edges
● You know which of your paints are transparent/opaque, staining, granulating (look up on-line at your paint manufacturer website)
● You’ve had practice copying other watercolor paintings to work on your techniques
● If you aren’t sure if you have these watercolor skills, I strongly recommend that you take my “Introduction to Watercolor Techniques” class first, in order to get the most out of this workshop because we will not be focusing on how to do basic techniques.
A materials list will be provided upon registration. You will also need to provide a reference photo that you want use for your painting.
2 person minimum per workshop.
| Oct 18-20, 2024: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm | 3 spots available |
Workshop: Paint a Heron
Workshop: Paint a Heron
Would you like to learn the techniques I used to paint this watercolor painting of a heron, called "The Sentinel"?
Join me for this 4 day immersion workshop where we will work together to recreate this 16" x 20" painting step-by-step, using materials like using transfer paper and masking fluid, and techniques such as controlling our edges, mingled washes and using a limited palette of colors.
The cost of this workshop includes pre-stretched paper and paint (since I'm particular about what we will be using!) You will need to bring your own brushes and some other supplies (materials list provided upon registration.)
In order to get the most out of this workshop, I recommend that you have previous experience with watercolors including:
● Wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry washes
● Building layers of color, starting with lightest and working to darkest
● Using different thickness of watercolor to paint with
● Familiar with having to pay close attention to how wet your paper and brush are at all times
● Familiar with a few different ways to achieve soft versus hard edges
● You’ve had practice copying other watercolor paintings to work on your techniques
● If you aren’t sure if you have these watercolor skills, I strongly recommend that you take my “Introduction to Watercolor Techniques” class first, in order to get the most out of this workshop because we will not be focusing on how to do basic techniques.
2 person minimum per workshop.
| Nov 15-18, 2024: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm | 3 spots available |
Workshop: Paint Fuchsias
Workshop: Paint Fuchsias
Would you like to learn the techniques I used to paint this watercolor painting of fuchsias, called "Pretty in Pink"?
Join me for this 4 day immersion workshop where we will work together to recreate this 16" x 20" painting step-by-step, using materials like using transfer paper and masking fluid, and techniques such as controlling our edges, mingled washes and using a limited palette of colors.
The cost of this workshop includes pre-stretched paper and paint (since I'm particular about what we will be using!) You will need to bring your own brushes and some other supplies (materials list provided upon registration.)
In order to get the most out of this workshop, I recommend that you have previous experience with watercolors including:
● Wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry washes
● Building layers of color, starting with lightest and working to darkest
● Using different thickness of watercolor to paint with
● Familiar with having to pay close attention to how wet your paper and brush are at all times
● Familiar with a few different ways to achieve soft versus hard edges
● You’ve had practice copying other watercolor paintings to work on your techniques
● If you aren’t sure if you have these watercolor skills, I strongly recommend that you take my “Introduction to Watercolor Techniques” class first, in order to get the most out of this workshop because we will not be focusing on how to do basic techniques.
A materials list will be provided upon registration.
2 person minimum per workshop.
| March 28-31, 2025: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm | 3 spots available |