Capture the beauty of autumn leaves with watercolors. Using the watercolor techniques of wet on wet, wet on dry and lifting, students will learn to create pictures and cards using a loose and expressive approach. This class is open to all levels, beginners are welcome.

Wednesday, November 9
5 – 9 pm

Instructor: Iva Neveux
Ages: 15 and Up | All Levels

Supply List: Show email confirmation at Nevada Fine Arts for a 10% discount.

• Your personal watercolor pallet including your several different reds, yellows, greens, blues including indigo and earths including burnt sienna & burnt umber
• If you are a beginner getting ready to purchase your first watercolor paints
• Watercolor brushes including a 1” flat and a #4 and # 8 or #10 round brushes
• Graphite or mechanical pencil
• Kneaded eraser
• Tracing paper
• 2 plastic water containers
• Pad of Arches cold press 140 lb watercolor paper (9”x12” or larger), other 100% cotton brands will also work (Daler Rowney, Bee Paper, Winsor Newton).
• Roll of paper towels

The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, have always been a fascinating subject for painters, photographers, and observers. In this class we will capture the beauty of this phenomenon with watercolors. 

We will first explore the greens, yellows and dark blues that work best for the northern lights. We will be using mostly the wet in wet approach. In the later stages of the painting the wet on dry approach and lifting will be used. 100% cotton paper is highly recommended.

Tuesday, October 18
5 – 9 pm

Instructor: Iva Neveux
Ages: 15 and Up | All Levels

Supply list: Show email confirmation at Nevada Museum of Art for a 10% discount. 

• Watercolor pallet including your preferred yellows, blues including indigo, permanent red or permanent magenta, and viridian or phthalocyanine green
• Variety of watercolor brushes including 1” flat, #6, # 8 or #12 round (the size of the brushes should correspond with the size of paper you choose to paint on)
• Several sheets of Arches cold press 140 lb watercolor paper (9”x12” or larger); other 100% cotton brands will also work (Daler Rowney, Bee Paper, Winsor Newton)
• Student grade watercolor paper (Strathmore series 400) for testing color mixes 
• Graphite or mechanical pencil
• Kneaded eraser
• Tracing paper (optional)
• White gouache (optional)
• Two plastic water containers
• Spray bottle and mister bottle
• Roll of paper towels

Learn the versatility of this multi-faceted medium! Using color theory and form, this camp will focus on different styles and techniques of painting each day. Color mixing will be an important aspect during camp as well as awareness of composition. Students will create a different piece of art each day and will come away from camp with an understanding of how to construct a painting. All supplies and a mid-camp snack will be provided. 

Monday – Friday, December 26 – 30
1 – 4 pm

Instructor: Meredith Durand
Age: 7-12 | All Levels

Learn the versatility of this multi-faceted medium! Using color theory and form, this camp will focus on different styles and techniques of painting each day. Color mixing will be an important aspect during camp as well as awareness of composition. Students will create a different piece of art each day and will come away from camp with an understanding of how to construct a painting. All supplies and a mid-camp snack will be provided. 

Monday – Friday, October 3 – 7
1 – 4 pm

Instructor: Meredith Durand
Age: 7-12 | All Levels

To paint the landscape well, the artist must master the various elements of it. This class will focus on the painting a variety of seascapes and the unique lighting situations, rhythmic movement of the water and drama that the ocean presents. Students who have taken the Landscape Basics class will benefit, but it is not a prerequisite. Students will complete three or four seascape projects in this class.

Tuesdays, October 4 – 25
9 am – noon

Instructor: Mike Callahan
Ages: Adult (15+) | All Levels

Supply list: Show email confirmation at Nevada Fine Arts for 10% discount.  

Paint: Note: If you already have a set of oil paint with a variety of colors, you are welcome to bring it, if not you should get the following colors: M. Graham brand Zinc White (37ml), Titanium White (37ml), Hansa Yellow (37ml), Quinacridone Rose (37 ml), Phthalocyanine Blue (37 ml)

Thinner: Weber Turpenoid (pint) or similar artist’s grade odorless mineral spirits. 

Medium: M. Graham Walnut Oil (4oz), Containers: Silicoil cleaning jar or other small glass jar with sealable lid (for thinner), Small can such as olive can (for medium), Brushes: Synthetic Brights OR Filberts: Silverbrush Bristlon #2, #4, and #10 Or Connoisseur Pure Synthetic, #2, #4, and #10 Or any quality hog bristle in those sizes if the student already owns their own brushes. Painting or Palette knife (steel is preferable to plastic) Disposable Palette New Wave Disposable Palette (grey) or similar, Brush Cleaner The Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver 2.5 ozCanvas, 4- Stretched Canvases or Canvas Panels (9”x12”, 11”x14, or 12”x16” – larger sizes than these not recommended due to time constraints), Roll of absorbent paper towels (i.e. Viva or Blue Shop Towels), Nitrile gloves.

In order to paint the landscape well, the artist must understand the light that fills it and how it affects the appearance of it. This class will focus on the painting various types of skies and clouds, the source of that light. Students who have taken the Landscape Basics class will benefit, but it is not a prerequisite. Students will learn why the sky is blue and why that matters when painting the landscape, how to paint different types of clouds in a variety of lighting situations and how clouds affect light and add drama and interest to an otherwise ordinary scene.

Tuesdays, September 6 – 27 
9 am – noon

Instructor: Mike Callahan
Ages: Adult (15+) | All Levels

Supply list: Show email confirmation at Nevada Fine Arts for a 10% discount. 

Paint: If you already have a set of oil paint with a variety of colors, you are welcome to bring it, if not you should get the following colors: M. Graham brand Zinc White (37ml), Titanium White (37ml), Hansa Yellow (37ml), Quinacridone Rose (37 ml), Phthalocyanine Blue (37 ml) Thinner: Weber Turpenoid (pint) or similar artist’s grade odorless mineral spirits. Medium: M. Graham Walnut Oil (4oz), Containers: Silicoil cleaning jar or other small glass jar with sealable lid (for thinner), Small can such as olive can (for medium), Brushes: Synthetic Brights OR Filberts: Silver brush Bristlon #2, #4, and #10 Or Connoisseur Pure Synthetic, #2, #4, and #10 Or any quality hog bristle in those sizes if the student already owns their own brushes. Painting or Palette knife (steel is preferable to plastic), Disposable Palette New Wave Disposable Palette (grey) or similar Brush Cleaner, The Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver 2.5oz, Canvas: 4-Stretched Canvases or Canvas Panels (9”x12”, 11”x14, or 12”x16” – larger sizes than these not recommended due to time constraints), Roll of absorbent paper towels (i.e. Viva or Blue Shop Towels) and Nitrile gloves.

Working in oil paint, students will explore value divisions in landscapes and the basics of brush sketching and massing. With these skills students will learn how to relate color to value and will gain a better understanding of identifying spatial cues in a landscape. Using foundational skills students can then explore under-painting, glazing and dry-brushing techniques.

Saturday and Sunday, October 1 and 2
9 am – 2 pm

Instructor: Daniel Helzer
Ages: 15 and up | All Levels

• Supply list: Show email confirmation at Nevada Fine Arts for a 10% discount.

  • Canvas Board 16×12 or smaller
  • Palette Knife
  • Palette
  • Paper Towels
  • Selection of bristle brushes (small, med and large)
  • Assortment of brushes.
  • Palette knife, paper towels and a few canvas boards, 8×10 or bigger.

  Paint Colors:

  • Cobalt Blue
  • Ultramarine Blue
  • Thalo Blue
  • Dioxazine Purple
  • Cadmium Red Light
  • Cadmium Yellow or Hansa Yellow
  • Burnt Sienna
  • Titanium White

  For Oils: Gamsol, turpentine or walnut oil for use as a brush medium or cleaner.

Students will be introduced to portrait painting techniques in this weekend intensive. Instructor will cover such topics as using a two-color palette, value scales, keying a painting, as well as, using both line and mass to create a portrait. Students may use acrylic or oil paint.

Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18
9 am – 2 pm

Instructor: Daniel Helzer
Ages: 15 and up | All Levels

Supply list: Show email confirmation at Nevada Fine Arts for a 10% discount.

• Oil/Acrylic colors:
• White
• Black
• Ultramarine Blue
• Yellow (Hansa Yellow, Cadmium Yellow or something similar)
• Assortment of brushes.
• Red (Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson or something similar)
• Palette knife, paper towels and a few canvas boards, 8×10 or bigger.

For Oils: Gamsol, turpentine or walnut oil for use as a brush medium or cleaner.

In this class, students will explore how to paint various rocks and cliffs in watercolor. We will briefly explore how to mix your own grays and neutrals. Using wet in wet as well as wet on dry approach, lifting technique, and various approaches to generate texture, we will focus on several different types of rocks, including multiple variations of generic as well as local rocks/rock formations. 100% cotton paper is highly recommended for wet in wet approach.

Tuesday, September 6 and 13
5 – 9 pm

Instructor: Iva Neveux
Age: Adult (15+) | All Levels

Supply list: Please show email confirmation at Nevada Fine Arts for a 10% discount.

• Watercolor pallet including your preferred reds, yellows, blues including indigo and earths including burnt sienna & burnt umber
• Variety of watercolor brushes including 1” flat, #6 or # 8 round, fan and rigger brush
• Pad (several sheets) of Arches cold press 140 lb watercolor paper (9”x12” or larger), other 100% cotton brands will also work (Daler Rowney, Bee Paper, Winsor Newton); some student grade watercolor paper (Strathmore series 400) for charting and testing color and brush strokes
• Natural and/or synthetic sponge
• Graphite or mechanical pencil
• Kneaded eraser
• Tracing paper
• Two plastic water containers
• Spray bottle and a mister bottle
• Roll of paper towels
• Cling wrap
• Palette knife and/or plastic card (optional)
• Masking fluid (optional)

This class will use colorful Maize to learn basics of botanical illustration and a variety of watercolor skills. The technique of combining watercolor and pencil drawing will also be explored. Previous experience in watercolor is recommended. 

Thursday, September 29
10 am – 2 pm

Instructor: Carroll Charlet
Age: Adult (15 +) | Some experience recommended

Supply List:

• Tablet of 140# Watercolor paper (Casson, Arches, or Strathmore). NOTE: Paper can be purchased from instructor during class for $2 per sheet.
• Small round 10 well pallet with plastic lid
• Sketch tablet or paper
• Basic watercolor set (Reeves or Richardson set of 12 is fine, or your own set)
• 2 drawing or mechanical pencils, and a rubber eraser
• Fine point (005) black ink pen, MUST be waterproof
• Two plastic water containers
• Roll of paper towels