Mediums: Watercolor
Level: Open to all levels
Class Dates: Tuesdays: September 29-October 13, 2026
Time Times:
• 3:00 pm-5:00 pm Pacific Time
• 6:00 pm-8:00 pm Eastern Time
• 11:00 pm-1:00 am UK Time
Kick your watercolor painting skills up a notch by focusing on key techniques and addressing common problems. This class focuses on essential skills for watercolor artists—whether you are working in a sketchbook or creating framed artwork. Each class will put your painting through the paces with a variety of fun exercises. Suggested homework will keep your brushes moving between sessions so that you continue to practice and improve.
This is a great class for artists who want to advance their watercolor skills, as well as for those working in another medium who want to explore watercolor and add it to their artistic toolkit.
Getting Started: Watercolor supplies seem basic enough—until you step into an art store. Then you are met with a dizzying number of choices for paints, paper, and brushes. Some are excellent, some good, and, frankly, some quite bad. Please review the materials list for details.
Session 1: Paper – Paint – Brushes – Water This session is designed to help you test your art supplies so that you have a good idea of how much water you need, how much paint to use, how to make it go where you want, and how to let go and let the watercolor do the work. We’ll cover dry brush, wet-in-wet, hard and soft edges, two- and three-color washes, choosing the right paper for the work at hand (hot press vs. cold press vs. inexpensive paper), and adding spot color to quick sketches.
Session 2: Knowing Your Paints Can you name every paint color in your paint box (without a cheat sheet)? Do you know how they mix together? Are you confident mixing greens: gray-greens, spring greens, forest greens, lime greens, and more? Do you know how to customize your own paint box? In this session, you’ll learn to mix paints beyond simple swatch charts so that you see the whole range of colors you can create. We’ll paint useful triads with three-color mixes and create a greens master sheet that can serve as a handy reference for future paintings.
Session 3: Layers, Layers, Layers Learn to paint vibrant, rich colors and create a sense of light and dimension in your artwork. We’ll work on how to build up a painting from lights to darks using layers of watercolor, and we’ll learn to look for the darks and details that can make all the difference when finishing a piece.
$225.00
Jean Mackay is an artist, educator, and naturalist. She has been keeping an artist journal for more than nearly 20 years as a way to study and share the beauty and diversity of nature, as well as to record the art of everyday living. Working in all kinds of settings, from tide pools to farm fields to her own backyard in upstate New York, Jean’s watercolors reflect a keen eye for detail and profound sense of wonder. She is the author/illustrator of The Nature Explorer’s Sketchbook (2020). Jean teaches online and in-person classes and offers immersive workshops nationally and internationally. She has been an instructor with Winslow Art Center since 2020.
About This Online Class:
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