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 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 you would like to be notified if an opening occurs.
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. I can also set up workshops for specific topics that you and your friends are interested in learning more about!
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.
This class is finished for 2024. Look for it again Fall 2025!
| TBA -- sign up for waitlist if you want to be notified of the next available class | 0 spots available |
Watercolor Bootcamp Part 1: The Basics
Watercolor Bootcamp Part 1: The Basics
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.
Dates listed below are the last classes available until Fall 2025!
| 10:00 am - 1:00 pm: Saturdays on Jan 4, 11, 18 and Feb 1, 8 and 15 | 0 spots available | |
| 2:00 - 5:00 pm: Saturdays on January 4, 11, 18 and Feb 1, 8 and Sunday, Feb 16 | 0 spots available | |
| 10:00 am-1:00 pm: Tuesdays on Jan 21, 28, Feb 4, 11 and 18, and March 4 | 1 spot available |
Watercolor Bootcamp Part 2: The Next Step
Watercolor Bootcamp Part 2: The Next Step
You've taken Watercolor Bootcamp Part 1: The Basics. Now how do you apply all that watercolor technique when you want to paint from a reference photo? Does it seem overwhelming and you don't know where to even start?
Or instead of fresh and luminous paintings, do yours tend to look 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.
Perhaps you have wanted to paint a larger painting but struggle with how to make that happen. We have solutions!
This 3 day workshop is meant to be a deep dive immersion 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 participants first take my Watercolor Bootcamp Part 1: The Basics. We will be building on those Basic skills so it's essential that you have familiarity with them before taking this workshop. Please refer to the class description in "Watercolor Bootcamp Part 1: The Basics" to see what skills you should already be familiar with. Ideally, you would have also spent some time trying to copy other watercolor paintings, to work on your techniques and problem-solving skills.
A materials list will be provided upon registration. You will also need to provide a reference photo that you want use for your painting. I recommend that you use an actual photo rather than just copying another painting, to get the most out of this workshop. If you've never tried painting a larger painting (something that's at least 11" x 14" or up to 16" x 20") this would be a good time to try that out!
2 person minimum per workshop.
This class is finished for now but will be available again in Fall 2025 and Winter 2026!
| January 8, 9 and 10, 2025: 10 am - 4 pm | 0 spots available |
Open Painting Sessions
Open Painting Sessions
Would you like some guidance while you work on your own watercolor painting? These Open Painting Sessions are 2-3 hour long and each participant brings a printed image of what they want to work on -- either a copy of a watercolor painting that they want to reproduce or a photograph that they would like to paint. You can bring a partially started watercolor to work on or you can plan on starting at the beginning. My job is to help you troubleshoot as you work through the process, as time allows.
Materials list: bring a paper copy of the image that you want to paint (make sure that the copy you bring is the same size as what you want to paint if you are planning on tracing the initial drawing), your partially started painting or blank watercolor paper and paint supplies, brushes, painting board and tape, and any specialty items such as masking fluid or tracing paper. If you are planning on tracing your image but don't know how to make a full-size copy of your image, send me the image before your session and I can print out the correct size for you so it will be ready for you to use.
These are individual sessions -- you can sign up for as many or as few as you want!
The March 12 date is the last session available until Fall 2025!
| 12/4/24: 9:00 - 11:30 am | 0 spots available | ||
| 1/15/25: 9:00 - 11:30 am | 2 spots available | ||
| 2/12/25: 9:00 - 11:30 am | 4 spots available | ||
| 3/12/25: 9:00 - 11:30 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 (9 am - 4 :30pm)!
Here's some of the mistakes that we will tackle:
Mistake #1: You don’t have enough color or dark enough values
Mistake #2: You have too much color or too dark of a value
Mistake #3: Your colors don’t glow as much as you’d like
Mistake #4: You painted something the wrong color
Mistake #5: Your wash has unwanted brush marks or water blooms
Mistake #6: You have accidental drips of paint where you didn’t want them
Mistake #7: You accidentally painted over something that should have remained white
Mistake #8: Your dried paint edges are too hard
Mistake #9: Your hard edges are sloppy or uneven.
Mistake #10: Your object looks like it is outlined in paint.
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.
There is currently no scheduled time for this workshop. If you are interested, please sign up for the workshop waitlist and I will let you know when I set up a new workshop in Fall 2025 or Winter 2026.
| TBD - sign up for waitlist if interested | 0 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 - 4:00 pm | 2 spots available |