Come Sail Away With Sue Barnard
August 2, 2025
9:30am to 12:30pm
Come Sail Away is a mixed media adventure where you will learn to create a lovely textured acrylic painting of a sailboat from start to finish.
Bring your artsy self and be prepared for hands on fun!
A limited number of frames will be available for purchase at the end of the event.
This is a class for both beginners and seasoned artists who enjoy working in the company of others.
Supply list:
12x24” canvas board or other similar tall shape. (Frames available for 12x24 boards only.) There will extras available at the class for $5
Acrylic paints, palette, paper towels
Container for water
Clothing protector
Hair dryer to dry the adhesive
medium prior to painting.
A few will be available for you if you don’t have one.
½” wide flat brush
#5 round brush or other smaller bristled brush for finer details.
Medium and adhesives will be provided by the instructor.
Price: $40 Members/ $60 Non-Members
PLEASE NOTE LOCATION:
Lake Tree Shores Clubhouse 1665 East Sandridge Court, Ocean Isle Beach, NC.
Registration and Supply List - Click Here!
Painting Wildlife in Watercolor with Lourdes Rasdall
August 12, 2025
10:00am to 4:00pm
Painting Wildlife in Watercolor – 1 day workshop
In this one-day workshop, we will explore techniques
to depict wildlife in their natural environments and natural behaviors, and design a composition that captures the animal’s personality through facial expressions, body language and textures
such as feather & fur.
Some experience with watercolor helpful.
Materials list:
- Your favorite watercolor paints, either tubes or pans (I use professional vs. student grade). If you are buying watercolor paints, a cool & a warm of each primary color (red, yellow & blue), Burnt Sienna, and Neutral Tint is a good start, as you can mix a wide range of colors with these. Some of my other favorites are Turquoise Blue, Cerulean Blue, Indigo.
- Watercolor palette. Ideally, you’ll want a palette that has wells for your pigments & flat areas where you can mix washes. I like one with a lid, where the lid also doubles as a mixing area. If your palette does not have an area for mixing large puddles, you can use a couple of Styrofoam or plastic paper plates to mix.
- Watercolor paper - pads, blocks or sheets ok (9x12” or larger). Coldpress 140 lbs, 100% cotton is best. You can also use hot press if that is your preference, still 140lb, 100% cotton.
- Watercolor brushes - a couple of rounds & flats in small, medium & large sizes. One 1” (or larger) flat or hake for wetting your entire paper.
- Paper towels, small bucket or container for your paint water.
- Nice to have (bring only if you have; I will have enough for everyone): waterproof black ink marker, like Micron or Faber Castell Pitt marker nib size 05 or 08, a white gel pen, small spray or mister bottle, masking fluid
I will have other supplies in the classroom to
share with workshop participants.
Price: $65Members/ $85 Non-Members
LOCATION:
Elks Lodge in Calabash, NC
937 Carter Dr. SW
Calabash, NC 28467
Lunch available for purchase.
PLEASE NOTE: No food may be brought into the lodge due to their licensing.
Registration, Bio and Supply List - Click Here!
Accessing Your Extraordinary Selves with Joanne Geisel
August 22, 2025
9:30am to 3:30pm
Creativity is a word seldom fully appreciated. The brain’s capacity for variety and great insights is limitless. Even as artists who utilize more portions of the brain than most, there are astounding ways to expand our consciousness to create even more dynamic, beautiful paintings. In this workshop we will explore ways to bring our artwork to new levels. This six-hour workshop, which is for all painting mediums, will explore how one combines the realistic components of composition, values, the color wheel (left brain) with the creative intuitive expressionism of the right brain.
Supplies Needed
- · One painting surface that is larger than you usually work but no larger than 18x24
- · 3-6 images from which to paint
- · A large palette or two.
- · Color wheel
- · Graphite pencil
- · Red pencil
- · Your regular artist supplies
Price: $65Members/ $85 Non-Members
LOCATION:
Elks Lodge in Calabash, NC
937 Carter Dr. SW
Calabash, NC 28467
Lunch available for purchase.
PLEASE NOTE: No food may be brought into the lodge due to their licensing.
Registration and Supply List - Click Here!
10 Painting Classes with Terri Harrison
Classes Begin on September 8th, 2025
Mondays
(No classes on 10/12 and 10/20)
9:30am to 12:30pm
Suggested materials list: The materials list will be discussed on the first day of class in depth.
First day of class: All -purpose drawing paper, pencils: (2 H, 2 B, 6 B), a kneaded eraser. a simple object to draw. This can be as simple as a coffee cup.
Drawing materials: All purpose drawing paper, assorted drawing pencils, example, 2H, 2B, 4B, 6B and a kneaded eraser, graphite transfer paper.
Printed photo reference for drawing and painting.
Oils or Acrylics: You will need a stretched canvas, (a table top easel, optional). palette for your specific painting medium, brushes, container for odorless thinner or water and paper towels.
We will discuss options for painting mediums and brushes in class.
Watercolors: Arches 140 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper. a prepared board for stretches, staple gun or a watercolor block, watercolor palette, water container, brushes, paper towels.
Watercolors, Acrylics and Oils: Warm colors: Cadmium Yellow Med., Cadmium Red Med., Cobalt blue, Cerulean Blue Cool colors: Cadmium Lemon Yellow, Permanent Alizarin Crimson or Permanent Rose, (an alternate color is Quinacridone Red), Ultramarine Blue (White Permalba or Titanium White is for Oils and Acrylics Only)
Please buy artist quality paints, for example M Graham or Holbein watercolors. Holbein, Charvin, Winsor and Newton, etc. oil colors. Water based may also be used. Good quality acrylics like Holbein or other artist quality paints are again recommended.
Brushes: For watercolors, I use, Robert Simmons Sapphire brush number 10 and number 1 round. Daler Rowney Skyflow Aquafine 2” or 1 1/2” flat brush Purchase from Dick Blick, Jerry’s Artarama, Amazon and Jackson’s Art Supplies Rosemary and Co. Eradicator purchase this brush from Wind River Arts Mary@windriverarts.com or call (972) 342-4947.
Oil and Acrylic brushes: Filbert shape brushes in bristle, or synthetic bristle and soft brushes like Black Swan, Silver brush, (Ruby Satin) an Master’s Touch filbert synthetic bristle. These brushes are just suggestions, they are generally what I use. If possible use artist quality brushes.
Sources for materials: Jerry’s Artarama, Dick Blick, Hobby Lobby, Wind River Arts, Jackson’s Art Supplies and Amazon
Price: $160 Members/ $180 Non-Members
Classes will be held at:
C.B. Berry Community Center in Calabash, NC
2250 SC-179
Little River, SC 29566
Registration and Supply List - Click Here!
Painting Watercolor on Canvas with Kristen Dorsey
September 20, 2025
9:30am to 3:30pm
Ditch the Frame!
Painting Watercolor on Canvas explores
the materials and techniques used in painting on prepared watercolor canvas. Painting on canvas is notably different than painting on cotton paper, but offers some benefits. Canvas does not require framing, saving artists the expense and avoiding the glare from presenting under glass. Additionally, artists can paint larger watercolors without the struggle of manipulating big sheets of paper.
The class will paint an 8x10 canvas. Participants can follow along as Kristen paints a heron, or can bring their own reference photo.
Topics covered:
- Available brands of prepared watercolor canvas and where to buy them
- Painting on watercolor ground (recipe for inexpensive ground provided)
- Preparing the canvas for painting
- Getting a basic sketch onto the canvas
- Best brushes for watercolor on canvas
- Managing the differences in painting on canvas
- Using additives (iridescent medium, water resistance medium)
- Using masking fluid/frisket and best application techniques
- Adding textured backgrounds to the canvas
- Metal leaf on watercolor canvas
- Lifting techniques/lifting brushes
- Sealing the finished painting
This class is best suited for those familiar with basic watercolor painting techniques, especially layering, glazing, painting wet on wet and wet on dry.
Price: $65Members/ $85 Non-Members
Classes will be held at:
C.B. Berry Community Center in Calabash, NC
2250 SC-179
Little River, SC 29566
Painting with Soft Pastels With Beth Olson
October 20, 2025
9:30am to 3:30pm
Pastels have an incredible history. They are the same pigments that are in oil paints and watercolors. What makes them so unique is that they are pigment with minimum binder and allow us to paint without the use of oil or water making them one of the most accessible painting mediums. They have been used by many incredible artists such as Degas (over 700 paintings), Mary Cassatt, Picasso, Renoir, Chardin, and so on. Modern artists include Zaria Forman, Aaron Schuerr, Deborah Stewart, and Vera Kavura to name just a few.
Pastels offer us bright saturated colors that are relatively easy to work with, making them an accessible medium for beginners and experienced artists. In both the morning and afternoon session we will work with pastels experimenting with different textures and blending methods. Pastels also give us the ability to adaptively use layers of color for effect and composition.
In the morning session we will cover basic information on pastels and pastel paper and explore the following:
· Color Vibrancy
· Texture and Blending
· Layering
· Ease of Use
After exploring and practicing different techniques, we will begin with a Notan to define composition and values and then using pastel paper of your choice we will execute a painting using a reference photo that you bring with you.
For the afternoon session we will be doing something a bit different. We all have paintings that we have put aside for one reason or another. They don’t resonate, they’re not quite what we want our paintings to be. Whether it’s watercolor, gouache, or acrylic, how can we take it and improve it? By using pastels to emphasize color, values, and composition we can take those paintings that we’ve put aside and emphasize or change the original picture producing a painting that we can be proud of.
You will need to bring in a painting that you are willing to use pastel on. If it is a watercolor, the paper will take the pastel easily unless the texture of the paper has been flattened. You will need to use a fixative to allow the pastel to grip onto the painting. I highly recommend Lascaux Fixative. If you are bringing in a gouache or acrylic painting, you will need a pumice gel to put over your painting for the pastel to have something to attach to. Golden Pumice Gel is recommended by artists who use both mediums together.
I look forward to sharing with you and seeing you.
Price: $65Members/ $85 Non-Members
Classes will be held at:
C.B. Berry Community Center in Calabash, NC
2250 SC-179
Little River, SC 29566
Palette Knife Paint Class with Linda Karaskevicus
November 3, 2025
9:30am to 12:30pm
If you're looking to create a photographic copy of a picture, this is not the workshop for you. This palette knife workshop is meant to speed and free up your painting style. A more fresh, spontaneous, and impressionistic painting is what we're looking to achieve.
Palette knife painting techniques have been embraced by legendary artists such as Henri Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh, and Rembrandt. Unlike traditional brushes, the palette knife offers unique strokes that add vibrant texture to your artwork. This tool not only allows for the rapid application of paint, covering canvases swiftly but also enables the layering of colors without the blending often caused by brushes. Economical and reusable when cared for properly, palette knives can be an invaluable addition to your artistic toolkit.
Supplies
Please bring the minimum supplies listed below as well as any other paints, brushes, etc. you typically use.
Please prep your canvas prior to workshop using white mixed with Burnt Sienna or Cadmium red and Yellow Ochre. Think about what you might want to show through or where you might want to scrape off.
- IPhone
- Acrylic paints are recommended for faster drying but oil will be accepted.
- Minimum colors include all primaries (red, yellow, blue, black, white). Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium yellow, light or medium, Cadmium Red light or medium, Burnt Sienna, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Titanium White, Paynes. Gray, Ivory Black are good extras.
- Brushes – one round #8, various flats. #4, #6, #8, 10 and #12 and bright #8.Long-handled brushes are typically used for oil and acrylic.
- Palette Knives – approx. 2”
- -3” bent trowel with rounded tip - not plastic. RGM or equivalent, Style 22, 10, 33, 50 and 5 (available at Blick and Amazon).
- Italian Palette Knives by
- Turpenoid solvent if using oils paints.
- Bring one canvas, 9 x 12, 11 x 14, or 12 x 16 and easel.
- A palette – disposable wax paper palette pads or white parchment paper with rimmed cookie sheet.
- Bring a large ziplock bag to store used palette.
- Two (2) open containers for water if using acrylics or a closed jar for turpenoid.
- Gloves will be available if necessary.
- Reference picture, landscape or seascape preferred or use mine
- Paper towels
Price: $40 Members/ $60 Non-Members
Classes will be held at:
C.B. Berry Community Center in Calabash, NC
2250 SC-179
Little River, SC 29566
Creating Visual Depth Through Layering with Mary Beth Bradbury
November 17, 2025
9:30am to 12:30pm
In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to create visual depth using layered techniques with acrylic paint and water-soluble media. Through guided instruction, they’ll explore six key methods - resist, dark over light, light over dark, glazing, combining transparent and opaque layers, and stencil-based mark-making.
The final product will be a personalized sample book, with each page showcasing a different technique in 3–4 distinct layers, serving as a lasting reference for future painting projects.
Supply List:
- · 6 -12 sheets of watercolor or mixed media paper between 5x7 and 11x14
- · Transparent/Semi-Transparent Acrylic paints: primary set or 3 -5 favorite colors, + white + black (paint label explainer attached and pertinent info highlighted in yellow) https://goldenhub.goldenpaints.com/storage/uploads/Acrylic_Label_Information_Explainer.pdf
- · Glazing medium (optional)
- · Oil pastels or white or clear wax crayons: a few colors will do
- · Water-soluble media (A handful of colors, Neocolor II, watercolor pencils, Inktense blocks, etc., whatever you have)
- · Mark-making tools: sponge, palette knife, silicone scraper, stencils, bottle caps, stamps, etc.
- · a few stencils
- · Brushes (round, flat, foam) a stiff stencil brush will come on handy
- · Paper towels & water container
- · Baby wipes (optional)
- · Blue painters tape or masking tape
Price: $40 Members/ $60 Non-Members
Classes will be held at:
C.B. Berry Community Center in Calabash, NC
2250 SC-179
Little River, SC 29566
Please join us - Wednesday Morning Paint-Ins!
Everyone is Welcome!
Our informal paint-in sessions are free for members and held every Wednesday at the Bellinger Artworks Studio, 283B Koolabrew Drive NW, Calabash, North Carolina from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM. Donations are welcome. Artists bring whatever projects they wish to work on and simply share the experience of painting together.
We meet in Bellinger Art Studios
283B Koolabrew Drive
Calabash, NC 28467
library art exhibits
Members may hang 2 pieces of artwork per quarter at the Southwest Brunswick Branch Library to display or sell. This is done on a quarterly basis starting in January, then April, July, and October. It’s suggested that you consider seasonal and local themes for your entries.
This is a great opportunity to display your art and show the community what
Waterway Art is all about.
Applications are available at the library's main desk.
10% of the proceeds benefit the “Friends of the Library”.
Contact Clare Pazona (cpazona@gmail.com) for the WAA exhibit at Southwest Brunswick Branch Library.
