Class: Introduction to Watercolour Painting
Class Duration: 6 x 3 hours classes
Date:
Saturdays, February 28, March 7, 14, 21, 28, and April 11, 2026
NO WORKSHOP ON APRIL 4, 2026!
Time: 2 pm to 5 pm
Cost: $260
Instructors: Oksana Baczynsky
Description:
Watercolor for Beginners – 6-Week Workshop
Have you ever wanted to learn how to paint with watercolors, or improve your painting skills? This 6-week beginner watercolor course at NewMakeIt will guide you through the fundamentals of watercolor painting while helping you create your own original artwork.
Learn to express yourself through this beautiful and versatile medium while exploring the principles of design, color mixing, and brush techniques. Watch demonstrations designed to inspire your creativity and provide practical tips you can apply immediately.
What You’ll Learn:
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Fundamentals of watercolor painting and materials
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Planning a composition and creating a sketch
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Color theory, mixing, and application techniques
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How to translate a reference image into a finished painting
Week 1 – Foundations of Watercolor & Design
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Introduction to watercolor materials and setup
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Elements and principles of design
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Understanding transparency, layering, and water control
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Simple brush and wash exercises
Outcome: Comfort with materials and design basics
Week 2 – Composition & Value
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How to start a watercolor composition
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Cropping and arranging elements
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Understanding value: highlights, mid-tones, shadows
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Monochromatic value study
Outcome: Ability to plan a painting using value
Week 3 – Color Theory & Planning
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Understanding the color wheel
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Mixing secondary and tertiary colors
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Creating tints, tones, and shades
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Planning a painting: palette selection + value sketch
Outcome: Strong planning skills before painting
Week 4 – Technique Focus: Water & Control
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Preparing paper and choosing brushes
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Wet-on-wet vs wet-on-dry
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Lifting, glazing, and layering
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New painting started and completed in class, focusing on technique
Outcome: Improved control and confidence with watercolor techniques
Week 5 – Translating a Reference Image
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Working from reference photos
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Sketching for watercolor (what to include, what to simplify)
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Color and value planning
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New painting started and completed, applying reference-based skills
Outcome: Ability to translate a reference into a finished painting
Week 6 – Personal Style & Finishing
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Choosing a subject that aligns with personal interest
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Planning composition, palette, and mood
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New final painting, emphasizing refinement and personal expression
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Group critique and next-steps for continued practice
Outcome: Multiple completed paintings + confidence to continue independently
Oksana Baczynsky:
My response, to the often unsettling and disturbing realities presented to us in these times of uncertainty, is to search out the beauty that surrounds us and capture it in paint. In sharing my art I hope to provide the same spiritual peace for my viewers.
The beauty and majesty of the Canadian landscape is the single greatest inspiration for my art. The beauty of our country constantly nourishes a great love, awe and inspiration for me, untainted by the harshness we hear and see every day.
The media that I use are primarily transparent watercolour and acrylic. Watercolour provides the luminosity of colours and ethereal quality that I use to capture the mood of a scene, the essence of a flower, or the mystery of a figure. To convey the more rugged aspects of the Canadian landscape I often turn to acrylics for their solid textural aspect and boldness.
I love to travel; whether by car, canoe, or on foot, the experience is, for me, intensely personal.
Whether at our cottage in Haliburton, or travelling from Newfoundland to B.C and as far north as Yukon and Alaska my sketchbooks and paints are always at hand. Frequent stops along my journeys fill my sketchbooks, soothe my soul and provide the foundations for my many paintings. Often, as time and weather permit, I engage in plein air painting.
My dearest wish is to impart this deeply personal relationship and the completeness I feel with the Canadian landscape, for the benefit and enjoyment of my viewers.
Location:
NewMakeIt
621 Timothy Street,
Newmarket, Ontario
L3Y 1R3