26 December, 2019 0 comments Leave a comment

This fall, during ten watercolour workshops held at my Lindsay studio, at Meta4 Gallery in Port Perry, and at Colborne Street Gallery in Fenelon Falls, I had the pleasure of guiding 60 students on their painting journeys.

I pack a lot of learning into every class I teach, and enjoy working with students who are keen to absorb and put into practice all the techniques and advice I share with them while we paint together. My students produced some amazing paintings, and I learned some new things along the way too. Below is a photo of me demonstrating a 2-brush technique.

My most popular workshops teach beginners how to paint smooth beach pebbles. This is a great subject for people without much (or any) art experience, because smooth stones are very easy to draw and the colours don't have to be accurate. As with all my classes, I show how to mix colours for a painting using only the three primary pigments red, blue, and yellow. Pictured below are the graduating students from my 'Pebbles' workshops.

Another popular class subject was 'Island Reflections', taught as a 2-day beginner workshop, once in my studio and once at Colborne Street Gallery. Each student made his or her own unique interpretation based on a reference photo. Shown below is a photo of students working on their paintings in my studio, followed by the graduation photos.

'Misty Lake and Canoe' was a popular class for intermediate level students, held in my Lindsay studio and again at Meta4 Gallery. We worked from multiple reference photos so each student could compose a unique, imaginary scene. Shown below are the graduating students proudly displaying their paintings.

I taught a 'Rocky Shore' 2-day class again this year, as it was so popular last fall that I had a full waiting list. Shown below are students working on their paintings in my studio, and then the graduation photo.

I taught a three-day 'Driftwood Beach' workshop for intermediate/advanced students, that produced amazing results. We all used similar reference photos of the beach and added our own version of driftwood. This scene was a very challenging subject to paint and everyone had fun while learning new skills. Pictured below are my students working on their paintings in my studio, and the graduation photo. 

Thank you to all my students, who made a watercolour journey with me this fall. I felt like I learned some things along the way, and I think my students felt the same. It is great to spend time with keen painters.

My next watercolour workshops (1-day, 2-day, or 3-day) will run from mid October to the end of November, 2020.

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