The Way You See It: Painting and Sketching your World

Carrying a small pocket sketchbook provides the opportunity to capture and interact with those scenes that resonate with you. This frequent daily practice builds your art muscle. At the same time, a quick snapshot with the cellphone can provide colour and lighting information to build on a live sketch. In this workshop, we will take inspiration from the LAC property as well as your own personal photographs to sketch and make a small watercolour painting. Pencil, pen and watercolour are readily portable and accessible mediums. We will review a fluid approach to quick line drawing. Watercolour skills will focus on effects of colour dilution, washes, hard and soft edges, and getting simplified colour elements onto paper. Simplified light and shadow effects and key compositional elements make a striking personal memoir.

After your class, you will take home an original work of art! Matted and ready for framing.

Audience: This workshop is suited for adults, teenagers and children 12 and up!

This workshop is suitable for beginners, intermediate and anybody else that wants to learn some new painting and sketching skills.

This is a great workshop for parent and child or bring a friend activity!

Weather:  In case of rain and/or snow, activities will be performed inside the museum or one of the art studios of the Leighton Art Centre. Extremely poor weather may result in cancellation. For our cancellation & refund policy, please see below.

Supplies:  The following supply list is what you will be using for this class. Please note as this is a class for people new to this medium, the Leighton Art Center has extra supplies to supplement your own.

• Please bring your own sketchbook. Ex Sketchbook 50 – 100 pages, white paper, 5.5″ x 8.5″ – 8.5″ x 11.5″ sized, can be spiral or hardbound

• 1 to 3 different sized tip artist quality fine liner pens (black) – waterproof (suggested brands: Sakura Micron, Staedler, Faber-Castell) 

• 1 to 3 different sized tip artist quality fine liner pens (black) – not waterproof (suggested brands: Prismacolour, Pilot) 

• An assortment of paintbrushes that you already own (smaller ones are preferred)  (LAC has some to borrow)

• If you already own watercolour tubes and watercolour pencils, we invite you to bring those with you to permit you to get to know your supplies! (LAC has some to borrow)

• You may use your own photos and magazines etc for reference material to paint

•  A lunch, snack, and water bottle for the day! 

Registration cost:   $75/single ticket or $130/double ticket plus GST & Eventbrite Fees* 

* Or register by phone: 403-931-3633, Mon-Fri, 10 am – 4 pm to avoid Eventbrite fees 

Did you know that Members of the Leighton Art Centre get 10% off the registration cost of all workshops and kids’ summer camps? Please visit  https://leightoncentre.org/join-us/become-a-member/.

All participants must sign our Covid-19 Liability waiver prior to their participation in a workshop. You can view our Covid-19 liability waiver here: https://leightoncentre.org/workshop-covid-19-liability-release-waiver/

Cancellation and Refund Policy: Please note there is a NO REFUND policy on all Leighton Art Centre workshops. A refund will be only be issued to participants if the workshop is canceled by the workshop coordinator due to insufficient enrollment, extreme weather conditions, or Covid-19 restrictions. Workshops may be canceled prior to the start date and participants will be notified via email and/or phone, and a full refund will be processed.

Withdrawal from workshops for medical reasons must be accompanied by a doctor’s medical note and must be received by the Leighton workshop coordinator prior to the workshop start date to be qualified for a full refund.

Artist/Instructor/Guide

As a biologist and geologist with an intense interest in people, food and the world around me, I have been making art all my life. It all started as a toddler being given paper and pencil to amuse myself. I have had private and gallery shows here in Canada and the UK and have paintings in both private and corporate collections. I have encouraged art to children in before and after School settings and here at LAC.