Workshops

The San Diego Watercolor Society Workshops are held in our beautiful, light-filled education center in the SDWS Gallery in The ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station, 2825 Dewey Road, Bldg #202, San Diego, CA 92106.

Premier & Weekend Workshop prices are discounted for SDWS Members.  To receive the discounted price, please log in before registering. If you are not a member or your membership has expired and would like to receive the discounted price, renew your membership or join SDWS prior to signing up. Please contact our workshops registrar at registrar@sdws.org or the workshops director at workshops@sdws.org with any questions.

Currently, our San Diego County and the CA Department of Health

recommends wearing masks when indoors and when you are around those 
who may be vulnerable to the virus

 

premierPremier Workshops

Premier workshops are typically four days and take place during the week. They are taught by nationally and internationally renowned master artists. Open to artists of all levels.

View Premier Workshops

weekendWeekend Workshops

Weekend Workshops are held on Saturdays and Sundays. They are ideal to learn new techniques and explore exciting new painting styles. Open to artists of all levels.

View Weekend Workshops

beginnerBeginner Workshops

SDWS offers a very popular series of workshops twice a year for adults new to watercolor or for those adults who wish to renew their interest and skill level. You do not have to be a SDWS member to attend these workshops. Each series consists of seven Saturday workshops with all supplies provided. Students may elect to just take one workshop or attend all seven. All students who are not members and take at least four of these workshops will receive a SDWS membership, free for one year.

Students attending the initial Beginner Basics Workshop receive one flat brush and one round brush to keep. Materials, brands, and where to purchase art supplies are discussed during this first class. The balance of the class is spent with the students learning basic watercolor painting techniques and watching step-by-step painting demonstrations and getting lots of practice using what they learned.

Our instructors come from SDWS’s Education/Outreach Committee. In addition to teaching beginner classes, they volunteer their time to teach art classes to all ages - in schools, after school programs and senior centers. As well as being active members of SDWS, many of our instructors are credentialed teachers who have recently retired or are in between teaching positions.

After the Beginner Basics Workshop, the next workshops will begin with a review of key watercolor techniques and then focus on a specific topic. These additional topics are: Color and Value, Drawing for Watercolor, The Still Life - Bringing It All Together, Landscapes, Portraiture - Let's Paint a Face, and finally Mixed Media. All workshops are held in the gallery’s education center. We hope new students will enjoy this new creative outlet and then join our membership by taking other workshops taught by a variety of professional instructors from across the country and from our own membership.

View Beginner Workshops