All breakout sessions will be on Saturday October 7.

All sessions are 1.5 hours unless otherwise noted.

All sessions cost $15 unless otherwise noted. Sign up for and pay for your sessions when you register for the convention.

Supply lists for all breakout sessions are here.

Where “Video available for purchase” is indicated: Video sessions are $15 per video. Links to the videos purchased will be sent to purchasers the week following the convention. Videos will be accessible for one month.

9:00 AM sessions:

Painting With Shapes Sarah Bouwsma Croisan Creek C Video not available

The Art of Storytelling – The Eastern Legacy of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Steve Ludeman Croisan Creek A-B Video available for purchase

Using Art to Bring Beauty Out of Chaos Gary Snavely Pringle Room Video not available

Wet-on-Wet Watercolors Harold Walkup Boardroom Video available for purchase

Paint-Out: The Urban Sketcher (9:30 AM – Noon) Leslie Cheney-Parr Meet in the Grand Hotel Lobby Video not available

10:45 AM Sessions:

More Heart in Your Art Judy Morris Croisan Creek C Video available for purchase

Juror’s Critique #1 Trish McKinney Croisan Creek A-B Video not available

Atmosphere in Watercolor Sandra Pearce Pringle Room Video not available

Just Three Pigments Winnie Givot Boardroom Video available for purchase

1:30 PM Sessions:

Art: More Than a Pretty Painting Debbie Loyd Croisan Creek C Video not available

Juror’s Critique #2 Trish McKinney Croisan Creek A-B Video not available

Masked and Taped Up: What’s Next? Margaret Godfrey Pringle Room Video available for purchase

The Fascinating Journey of Watercolor Paper: From Pulp to Masterpiece Sally Borg Boardroom Video not available

Session descriptions

Painting With Shapes

Sarah Bouwsma
9:00 – 10:30 am, Croisan Creek Room C 
Lecture, $15 – Limit 24 participants 
Video not available.
No supply list.

We approach painting with unique backgrounds, interests, and insights. Our challenge is to bring it all together to create a personal style. This session offers an up-close look at Sarah Bouwsma’s journey that helped her become the award-winning artist that many admire. 

Her projected presentation will share her concept of fitting little shapes together to form the big picture, or as Sarah puts it, “like doing a jigsaw puzzle.” 

Sarah’s amazing hand-painted book of color blends is her reference for creating unity and delightful color combinations. You will learn how this book allows her to be free and playful with color. She will then do a short demo to show firsthand how she completes this process. 

The Art of Storytelling – The Eastern Legacy of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Steve Ludeman
9:00 – 10:30 am, Croisan Creek Rooms A-B
Presentation with Art Exhibit, $15 – 100 participants
Video available for purchase.
No supply list.

Steve will introduce participants to storytelling using art. He will describe how he uses “The Art of Storytelling” to work on his four-year art and history project with the national Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. Through his art, he tells the compelling and important story of the Eastern Legacy of the Corps of Discovery in 1803. The session will include art instruction, travelogue, and history. There will be a voluntary, fun written assignment – so be ready to use your writing creativity! 

Using Art to Bring Beauty Out of Chaos

Gary Snavely
9:00 – 10:30 am, Pringle Room 
Hands-on class, $15 – Limit 30 participants 
Video not available.
See supply list here.

In this breakout, Gary will talk about the art therapy work he and the Japanese artist Tatsuo Inoue did after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the tsunami that followed. Gary and Tatsuo worked with young children who were survivors of the tsunami. They had children paint randomly on large pieces of canvas, and then Gary and Tatsuo took the messy painted pieces and reconfigured them into a new piece by adding color and shapes. 

Also in the breakout, Gary will have participants take some inexpensive paper and do something similar. Participants will pass their random paintings to a neighboring participant for them to try to make something beautiful from the mess. The fun and the learning will be in receiving your neighbor’s chaotic painted piece and trying to make something from it. 

Understanding Wet-in-Wet Watercolor Techniques

Harold Walkup
9:00 – 10:30 am, Boardroom 
Demo, $15 – Limit 30 participants 
Video available for purchase.
No supply list.

Harold will demonstrate the wet-on-wet technique for a snow painting, showing the key steps to completion. 

Paint-Out: The Urban Sketcher

Leslie Cheney-Parr
9:30 am – 12:00 pm, Meet in Grand Hotel Lobby 
Hands-on Paint-out, $15 – No limit 
Video not available.
See supply list here.

Join Leslie in the lobby of the Grand Hotel by 9:30 am to begin your journey to the river, carousel, and city streets and buildings within walking distance of the hotel. The goal is to prepare several studies for future paintings by drawing small layouts with notes and adding color to capture the joy found in new surroundings. If you like, bring your phone or camera as an extra way of recording our locations. Leslie will keep us on target, giving us ample time to get at least two, if not three, ideas for future masterpieces. 

More Heart in Your Art

Judy Morris
10:45 am – 12:15 pm, Croisan Creek Room C 
Demo and hands-on class, $15 – Limit 24 participants
Video available for purchase.
See supply list here.

Judy’s art career began in 1967 (56 years ago!!) when she became the art teacher at Medford High School. She LOVED every minute of it then and still does! When she started teaching, there were sooooo many rules. Over the years, artists became “themselves,” and our art became our own. Judy will help you become your best by sharing the wisdom she’s learned over the years. In this session, she will guide you through some of the many rules and help you create your own story.

Juror’s Critique #1

Trish McKinney
10:45 am – 12:15 pm, Croisan Creek Rooms A-B
Critique, $15 – Limit 20 Participants, no limit Auditors
Video not available.
No supply list.

Trish McKinney, our juror and workshop instructor, will critique twenty images of watermedia paintings by
WSO members. This critique session is an opportunity for input from an experienced instructor and juror. Learn
how to improve a painting and what makes a painting stand out. To have your image included in the critique
session, sign up as a Participant. The participant slots go quickly, so be sure to sign up soon. Auditors listen, watch, and learn!

Atmosphere in Watercolor

Sandra Pearce
10:45 am – 12:15 pm, Pringle Room
Hands-on class, $15 – Limit 30 participants
Video not available.
Supply list available here.

Create different atmospheric effects in watercolor through observation, planning, color choice, and technique. Foster the feeling of a chilly, foggy morning; paint a clear sunny sky with realistic dimension; lay down a hot day’s heavy air; explore the golden hour. Convey mood to your audience. When done correctly, your feeling of that day will connect with the viewer on a personal level; they will have their own emotional experience through your art. Handout provided.

Just Three Pigments

Winnie Givot
10:45 am – 12:15 pm, Boardroom
Hands-on class, $15 – Limit 25 participants
Video available for purchase.
Supply list available here.

With just three pigments, you can create more colors than you can imagine. Winnie paints all her portraits with the same three staining transparent pigments. This hands-on session will teach you how to create some of the beautiful colors possible with this triad. The advantages of only using three pigments are that they make a harmonious painting, and you can easily replicate the colors. Plus, as you use them, you get to know the properties of the pigments well. Winnie will guide the participants in creating a range of colors from vibrant to neutral and from pale white to deep black. You will learn how to match colors as well as how to mix several gorgeous greens from three pigments, bringing liveliness and suggesting reality in your paintings.

Art: More Than a Pretty Painting

Debbie Loyd
1:30 – 3:00 pm, Croisan Creek Room C
Lecture and interactive, $15 – Limit 24 participants
Video not available.
No supply list.

What if an art museum had floors dedicated to specific themes or emotions instead of the traditional structure of floors dedicated to different time periods? This way of presenting art could help people expand their understanding of certain issues or help them cope with difficult feelings. Art has the ability to make us better people. Debbie, a retired mental health counselor, will explain some of the functions of art (how it can help us grow, rebalance us, be a benefit in certain medical situations, and help us understand ourselves). You will have an opportunity to play with these concepts, then immerse yourself in a pretend journey to an art show focusing on a couple of life issues. Some of the presentation will include a few religious pictures or music, but the focus will be on the art experience.

Juror’s Critique #2

Trish McKinney
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm, Croisan Creek Rooms A-B
Critique, $15 – Limit 20 Participants, no limit Auditors
Video not available.
No supply list.

Trish McKinney, our juror and workshop instructor, will critique twenty images of watermedia paintings by
WSO members. This critique session is an opportunity for input from an experienced instructor and juror. Learn
how to improve a painting and what makes a painting stand out. To have your image included in the critique
session, sign up as a Participant. The participant slots go quickly, so be sure to sign up soon. Auditors listen, watch, and learn!

Masked and Taped Up: What’s Next?

Margaret Godfrey
1:30 – 3:00 pm, Pringle Room
Presenter: Demo – Limit 30 participants
Video available for purchase.
No supply list.

Margaret Godfrey will demonstrate the use of masking film and various types of tape to save shapes and create patterns in her paintings. She will describe how and why she uses each masking item and share a handout naming each material. In her demonstration, she will show how her methods help her generate interest, break up space, and save areas to paint later in her process.

The Fascinating Journey of Watercolor Paper: From Pulp to Masterpiece!

Sally Borg (The Merri Artist)
1:30 – 3:00 pm, Boardroom 
Lecture and hands-on class, $15 – Limit 30 participants
Video not available.
Supply list available here.

This breakout session will be a deep dive into the watercolor paper production process with Sally Borg of The Merri Artist. Our discussion will focus on what goes into the manufacturing process and how that affects the paper you paint on. We will discuss milling, texture, sizing, weight, and content.

Attendees will receive a packet of papers that includes various professional brands like Arches, Fabriano,
The Master’s Choice, and St Cuthberts, as well as economy lines such as Strathmore, Canson, and Fluid. This
packet will allow you to experiment with and compare different types of paper to find the one that best suits your
or your students’ needs. Each sheet will have a number rather than a name so that the comparison will be without
bias. This way, we can conduct a “blind” test. We’ll try techniques like washes, wet-on-wet, and color lifting on
each paper to experience how different papers react to watercolor paint due to their manufacturing process, paper
content, and sizing. At the end of the session, Sally will reveal the names of the papers.