Art Classes
Salt Spring Island Painters Guild is dedicated to promoting artistic expression and creativity in the local community. We offer a variety of art classes for painting and drawing, suitable for artists of all skill levels. Our experienced instructors will guide you through the techniques and methods used in creating beautiful works of art. Come and join us and discover the joy of creating art in a supportive and friendly environment.
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Once you have purchased your Annual Membership
you can register for the following classes:
Cancellation Policy
Refunds for withdrawal from an instructed or mentored workshop will be issued if one withdraws at least 14 days prior to the instructed workshop. To cancel your registration, 14 days prior to the workshop, contact the registrar. Exceptions for refunds (medical or family emergency) post 14 days will be considered at the discretion of the registrar at info@ssipaintersguild.com.
Apple Still Life – Getting Started with Oils or Acrylics
Date: Jan 17, 2026
Time: 9:30 – 3:30
Instructor: Lisa MacLean
Location: SIMS
Levels: all (focus on new painters)
Medium: Oil or acrylic
Max Participants: 14
Price: $55
This one-day painting workshop is designed for beginners who would like to explore still life painting in a calm, guided, and encouraging environment. Using a simple set up of an apple, participants will be introduced to the fundamentals of painting while learning how to observe form, light, colour, and shadow. The day begins with setting up a still life with a single light source. Participants will learn how to sketch the apple directly onto the canvas, focusing on proportion and structure, colour mixing, blocking in shapes, and gradually building form using light and shadow. Emphasis is placed on understanding volume, rather than rushing toward detail. Throughout the workshop, demonstrations and individual guidance will help participants gain confidence with their paints and develop their own pace and style. By the end of the day, each participant will complete a finished painting of an apple and gain a clear understanding of the basic techniques needed to continue painting simple still life subjects at home. Materials: Bring your usual painting kit for your medium of choice. Colour suggestions are: Titanium White, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow Light, Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber, Sap Green. Range of brushes Odorless mineral spirits in a sealable jar to clean brushes (for oils) Water container for acrylics A small canvas in the 8-12 inch range A table easel or floor easel would also be handy. A sketch book and basic drawing materials to make notes. Paper towels Cardboard box at least 12 inches tall (your apple goes inside it) A desk lamp: I will have a few but a couple more would be nice. Lisa will supply the apples! NOTE: if you are a beginning painter and would like some advice on paints, brushes and supports, send me an email at lmaclean@mac.com As you see above we’ll be working at SIMS, so please bring containers to take home all your garbage/used paper towels, etc. We cannot leave stuff at SIMS. Bio Lisa studied art at Loyola University in New Orleans and later at the Wackers Academie in Amsterdam, where she built her skills and explored different approaches to drawing and painting. Lisa now calls Salt Spring Island, BC, home. Since settling on the island, she has become an active member of the Salt Spring Island Painters Guild, connecting with local artists and contributing to the community’s creative life. In the past year she has also begun teaching workshops—an unexpected but welcome step in her practice—and has discovered a genuine love for sharing her knowledge and encouraging others
Playful Abstracts: Finding Our Creative Spark
Date: January 28, 2026
Time: 10-4
Instructor: Kimoko Brown
Location: ArtSpring
Levels: All
Medium: Mixed media including acrylic paints, drawing, collage
Price: $55
Max Participants: 14
Remember when you were child and making art was simply playtime? When a blank sheet of paper invited you to splash on colours and lines without hesitation? In this class we’ll reconnect with our inner child artist and play with abstracts! No rules, no pressure – just fun and exploration. I’ll share with you an easy layering process of collage, paint, and sanding. Afterwards, you’ll take it from there, a kind of choose your own adventure. You can use a photo for color inspiration, but we won’t aim for a specific outcome. With this process, it will be a journey with no direction, and only you will know when it feels complete. The heart of this workshop is joy – enjoying the playful process among fellow artists and friends. If you’re feeling stuck in your art, or just want to try something different, then this will be a refreshing, creative day just for you. Materials: Any medium sized wood panel or a similar rigid surface (preferably not canvas), and prepped with gesso Mix of drawing supplies like pencils, oil pastels, crayons, ink, charcoal Acrylic paints Any brushes you want (inexpensive flat utility brushes are great) Paper towels Water container Disposable palette paper or paper plates (something for paint mixing) Collage papers: tissue paper, newspapers, wrapping paper, scrap paintings/drawings on paper, clothing patterns, notebook paper…anything you can think of! Your preferred glue for collage plus a brush: white glue, glue stick, gel medium Tools for making marks like an old comb, cake decorating scrapers, palette knife, bubble wrap, stencils Sand paper (any fine to medium grit will do) and safety mask Take pictures of color combinations you’re drawn to: it can be flowers, fabric with a print you love, even an area rug can have lovely harmonious colours Optional items (or share with other participants): Easel Water spray bottle Hair dryer Workable Fixatif (if using charcoal/pencil) Instructor Bio: Kimoko is a self-taught artist whose work focuses on florals and landscapes, using bright happy colour and a loose expressive style. Raised in New York City, art has always been a part of her life. But it was only after moving back to Canada and to Salt Spring with her family, that painting became a central passion. Inspired by the lush beauty of the island, Kimoko loves to create art that is uplifting, light-filled and full of joy. Feel free to contact Kimoko with questions at kimokobrownart@gmail.com
Heading for Disaster – Rescue it!
Date: February 14, 2026
Time: 9:30 – 4:00
Instructor: Don Hodgins, AFCA
Location: SIMS
Levels: all
Medium: Oil, acrylic, watercolour
Max Participants: 14
Price: $55
We all have paintings that simply don’t work. Or don’t work as well as we thought it would (well should have anyway). So spend a Saturday in the company of painterly colleagues and see if we can rescue a few of these duds. Or progress something you’re working on and would like a little input. Bring a painting in progress, or one you’ve abandoned for a while but would like to continue on. You can also start a new one from reference material and would like advice on approach, design type stuff. If you work in watercolour it usually works best to begin afresh, especially if you already have several layers of paint on the dud. Bring the dud, but go anew too. We can kick off the day with a little show and tell (what went wrong, what you are trying to achieve type stuff), and I (we all) will provide suggestions on where to go from here. I’ll also help you with colour mixing, painting techniques, values, etc. – the style and method input that might help! We can finish the day with a quick review of these newly rescued puppies! Materials: Bring your usual painting kit for your medium of choice. Always a good idea to have a new support or two in case the rescue really goes south. And bring along your reference material if working from photographs. A sketch book and basic drawing materials to make notes and, maybe, I’ll even draw a thumbnail to illustrate a point or two. Instructor: Don is a signature member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and has successfully entered over forty juried exhibitions at the FCA, and has had his artwork in the Sooke Fine Arts Show and the Sidney Fine Art Show on several occasions. Don also shows regularly in the Guild Shows, at ArtCraft and with League 181. He has also been a juror for the FCA for several years.
Discovering Values with the Grisaille/Underpainting Technique
Date: February 25, 2026
Time: 09:30 - 4:00
Instructor: Wendy Wickland
Location: ArtSpring
Levels: any and all
Medium: Acrylic underpainting, choice of oil or acrylic for colour in finished painting
Price: $55
Max Participants: 14
This one day workshop is for oil and acrylic painters of any level. We will use an acrylic burnt sienna to create an accurate underpainting on canvas that reflects the actual values of the subject we are depicting. We will have a completed grisaille on the canvas before we move to colour. Participants should choose a photo to work from that has strong values and contrast. Please bring a black and white photocopy of this photo enlarged 200 percent. It is much easier to see values in black and white. Think about which parts of the photo are important for you to paint. It may be the whole photo, or just a certain point of interest. Then we will compose a monochromatic version of the painting to come. The completed grisailles are often very beautiful and provide a roadmap to the finished painting. Materials • If you have burnt sienna in acrylic, bring that, if not, we can supply it. • Usual painting supplies for the transition to colour, primary colours, a palette that can be cleaned or paper palettes • A soft cotton rag or two, a measuring tape • Usual variety of painting brushes with one large, 2” brush that can be a cheap house paint brush. • Canvas or board support, at least 16 x 20, gessoed If you have any questions about materials, please email Wendy wendygrant@shaw.ca
Conquer a World of Mediocre Landscape Paintings
Date: March 14, 2026
Time: 9:30 – 15:30
Instructor: Don Hodgins, AFCA
Location: SIMS
Levels: all
Medium: Oil, acrylic, watercolour
Max Participants: 14
Price: $55
Landscape painting presents one of the greater challenges to any artist. To capture and hold the viewer’s interest, to convey emotion, to create a narrative, to provide context all require thought and planning. Good landscapes don’t just happen by copying photos, or working on location! You think it through first. The idea in this workshop is to explore the elements that go into a satisfying landscape. We’ll review some ideas on design – decisions that you make before you begin to paint: centre of interest and how to create one, placing the key shapes, editing your reference, and more. Then we will look a few aspects of style: choosing a colour palette, establishing values, exploiting your medium to maximum advantage (how loose, or how accurately representational you want to be), adding context and so on. Don will do this with a brief slide show with a bunch of examples. Following which you will select a reference photo (bring a few) and work through a design making a thumbnail sketch (while you make not like doing this, it is mandatory!). And then to work: transfer your design, squeeze out and paint. Don will wander around providing essential advice and demos. We can finish the day with a quick review of these stimulating new pieces. Materials: Bring your usual painting kit for your medium of choice. Always a good idea to have a new support or two in case the first really goes south. A table easel or floor easel would also be handy for oils and acrylics. And don’t forget your reference material if working from photographs. A sketch book and basic drawing materials to make notes and, maybe, I’ll even draw a thumbnail to illustrate a point or two. NOTE: if you are a beginning painter and would like some advice on paints, brushes and supports, send me an email at don_hodgins@shaw.ca. As you see above we’ll be working at SIMS, so please bring containers to take home all your garbage/used paper towels, etc. We cannot leave stuff at SIMS. Instructor: Don is a signature member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and has successfully entered over forty juried exhibitions at the FCA, and has had his artwork in the Sooke Fine Arts Show and the Sidney Fine Art Show on several occasions. Don also shows regularly in the Guild Shows, at ArtCraft and with League 181. He has been a juror for the FCA for several years.
Brilliant Layers Landscape with
OPEN and Fluid Acrylics
Date: March 18, 2026
Time: 10:00-4:00
Instructor: Denna Erickson
Location: SIMS
Levels: Open to all
Medium: Open and fluid acrylics
Max Participants: 14
Price: $115
In this exciting workshop, students will explore the development of a mixed media piece and the true excitement of working in layers of Acrylic on a wooden panel. We will begin with a gessoed panel. I use sand-able gesso by GOLDEN, which creates a porcelain like finish. I will introduce painting techniques with GOLDEN OPEN acrylics. Brayer, brush ,and bowl scraper techniques will be demonstrated. The OPEN acrylics will be applied with these tools, after a light wash is applied to the surface with GOLDEN fluid acrylic. After the underpainting is established with a horizon line, white tissue paper will be applied as collage for texture. We will then go in to specific colours with brush work techniques and glazes to establish luminous layers and depth to the piece. Materials note - $60 materials fee per person, payable at class. You will be provided with: A Pre-gessoed birchwood cradled panel 16”x20” (this is to save drying time, so we can get to creating!) Use of all GOLDEN OPEN and fluid acrylics, white tissue paper, acrylic matte medium, soft rubber brayers by speedball. You bring: Your acrylic brushes: Please include a #6 flat, # 12 flat, 2 inch wash brush, # 0 or #2 round. Disposable palette Messermeister Silicone Bowl Scraper (or similar scraper) Acrylic matte medium Container for water and rags or paper towels Bio: Denna was born in Edmonton, Alberta. She studied at Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and has also attained a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Victoria in 1997. She has been teaching and working as an artist on the West Coast for the past 30 years. Denna specializes in using oil and cold wax on wood. Her paintings consist of personal symbols and organic shapes layered in glazes of luminescent color. Shapes and forms are transcended through transparent layers of paint. Each painting has a personal meaning or memory in time. The colors represent the emotion evoked by each piece. Denna plans her pieces by vivid thoughts of color. The focus of the painting is then added and the color and the imagery combined transcend into meaning. Currently, Denna is represented by two galleries, The Avenue Gallery in Victoria BC, Effusion Gallery in Invermere BC. She also participates in the East side Culture Crawl every year in Vancouver from 1000 Parker Street. She is very active in the Parker street arts community occupying a studio there for 24 years. Recently she has moved to Vancouver Island in Brentwood Bay, where she works from a home studio. https://www.dennaerickson.com
Loosen Up - A Painting Weekend
Date: March 28 and 29, 2026
Time: 9:30 – 4:00
Instructor: Val Nelson
Location: SIMS
Levels: All levels - some previous painting experience is recommended, and even advanced painters will benefit!
Price: $235
Max participants: 12
Would you like to learn powerful strategies for injecting expressive energy into your paintings while retaining strong structure and recognizable form? In this workshop we will engage in various modalities that will help you tune into and embody your fierce and joyful creator self, while advancing your painting chops! These include calming breath work and intention setting, drawing warm-ups, painting diverse subject matter, and other playful strategies to break you out of your usual habits. What you will learn: How to paint more loosely How to break free from the inner critic so you can enjoy your studio time Painting games to warm up your practise Tips on brushwork, composition, drawing, and colour mixing, including how to avoid “muddiness” How to tune in and learn to trust your unique artistic voice What you will gain from this workshop: Have fun making art with like-minded artists Engaging strategies to get things moving in the studio Clarity on handling your painting materials in a way that feels right for you Better understanding of colour theory Renewed confidence in your unique artistic practise Although Val will be mostly demonstrating in acrylic paint, she is very fluent in working with oils, therefore oil and acrylic painters are welcome. Materials HB pencil,,eraser, pencil sharpener, Sketchbook approx 9 x 12 inches Six - 12 x 16” or 16 x 20 primed canvasses or Sino-Art Canvas pad 12 x 16" or 16 x 20 Prime these once more with white acrylic gesso and lightly sand with fine sandpaper before the workshop. Make sure this is dry by class time. This provides a "speedy" surface. White acrylic gesso for priming (Golden brand recommended) Paint If you can, try to buy Artist quality Recommended Oil paint brands (this list is not exhaustive): Gamblin, Winsor and Newton, Old Holland, Van Gogh, Michael Harding, Lukas. If you prefer not to use solvents, you may enjoy the water-soluble oil paints now available which clean up with soap and water--I find Cobra brand is very good. If so, make sure you get the brand's dedicated painting medium. Recommended Acrylic paint brands Golden, Liquitex, Winsor and Newton, Kroma. Please try to buy “heavy body” paint; the techniques we are covering do not cover paint pouring methods, but if "flow" type paints are what you have, bring those as they are nice for glazing. It may be helpful, however to fortify your kit with one tube of heavy body Titanium white for surface texture variety. Paint Colours (Oil or Acrylic) 8 oz Titanium white Cadmium yellow light Cadmium yellow deep or Hansa yellow deep Yellow Ochre Cadmium red light Quinacrodone red Alizarin crimson permanent Burnt umber Ultramarine blue Cerulean blue Pthalo green Brushes Bring a range of sizes and shapes. Below is a suggested list: Bristle brush Rounds #12, #6, #4, #2 Bristle brush or synthetic flats or filberts #12, #6, #4, #2 1.5" flat brush synthetic Optional but recommended Rosemary and Co 1/4" long-handled Eclipse "comber". 1", 1/2", 1/4". This is a fantastic brush for sensitive detail good for oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache. You can order these from this website in England: https://www.rosemaryandco.com/oil-brushes/eclipse-oils/eclipse-combers Palette Oil painters: 12 x 16” minimum size. Your choice: white disposable palette pad, or glass palette with paper underneath, or you may have another palette system such as a wooden or plastic palette that you like to use. Palette Acrylic painters 12 x 16” minimum size. Your choice: MASTERSON Sta-wet Palette and its dedicated palette sheets and sponge layer included, or white disposable palette pad, or white choroplast or hard plastic rectangle. Oil painting Thinner and Mediums Gamblin Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits for thinning your paint, and for cleanup. No turpentine please. Oil paintingMedium your choice: Refined walnut or linseed oil mixed 50/50 with Gamsol; I like to use this as my medium as it dries more slowly than alkyd resins therefore is less sticky on the canvas. However some of you may prefer using only oil, or only spirits, or Gambling Galkyd Lite or Liquitex Liquin, while some of you may prefer using just OMS, or just linseed oil, or just paint. 150-200 ml glass container with lid for OMS to clean your brushes 150-200 ml glass container with lid to store your medium Metal Palette cup to decant your medium mixture for attaching to your palette you are painting Optional: 1 litre glass jar to hold brushes Mediums and Accessories for Acrylic painters I use just water when painting the first lay-in when working with acrylics. To soften edges on later applications of paint, I like Golden Open Medium; helpful for slowing paint drying time and increasing transparency and flow. 150-200 ml glass jar with lid for your medium. Thin it a little with water to further slow drying time Large spray bottle for water with a fine mist pattern Small and large containers for water and mediums, such as yogurt containers. Miscellaneous: Please bring two pairs of wooden chopsticks Painters' tape 1" width Plenty of rags such as old tea-towels (fat fleecy towels not the best) or blue painters rag that comes in a roll. Easel (if not provided in studio space) Small metal tapered diamond shape palette knife (approx length of blade 1.5". Try to get one that is pliable/bendable Apron or old clothes Old shoes Green housepainter tape Plenty of shop-towels or paper towels or cotton rags Artist Biography An Honours graduate of Emily Carr College of Art and Design, Val Nelson has had a dynamic painting career marked by solo and group shows across Canada and internationally, including Bau-Xi Gallery, Galerie de Bellefeuille, and Surrey Art Gallery. In addition to her artistic output, she is an experienced painting instructor dedicated to mentoring emerging artists. Since 2009, she has taught painting both in-person and online and contributed as a guest instructor at institutions including North Island College, Vancouver Island School of Art, and Gordon Smith Gallery; she has also led a painting retreat in Tuscany. Artist website: https://valnelson.ca/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valnelsonpainter/
Painting Beautiful Florals
Date: April 8, 2026
Time: 10:00-4:00
Instructor: Betty Rideout
Location: SIMS
Levels: All
Medium: Oil or blendable acrylics
Max Participants: 14
Price: $55
As we all know, Salt Spring island is filled with creative people. Many of those love both to garden and to paint. This workshop will help to combine these two pleasant obsessions. In this workshop you will learn how to paint lovely, luminescent flowers filled with light. Painting translucent objects, such as petals, is more difficult to achieve than painting opaque objects. As a result, it’s challenging to paint florals that accurately represent their delicate nature. This workshop will provide techniques about how to paint in a way that represents the fragility of a flower. Working with your own image, we will work step-by-step through to, hopefully, a completed painting. I’ll demonstrate modelling using the classical approach of chiaroscuro (light-dark) which creates a dramatic setting. We’ll then begin painting by starting with warm shadows and elaborating from there. We’ll also be working using the alla prima, or wet-on-wet, approach, which makes blending easy and gives us control over where we want hard edges. Most flowers have only a few hard edges. I’ll circulate to offer guidance, suggestions, and admiration as flowers begin to bloom via paint! Materials list: Assortment of paint brushes, including at least one filbert, one angle, a liner, a fan brush and a larger brush to apply your background colour. Oil or slow drying acrylics in colours appropriate to your image. In my palette I always have: Ivory black, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Light, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Cadmium Yellow Light, Titanium White. Sometimes I include Brown Pink (Gamblin), Gold Ochre, Magenta, Burnt Sienna. The bod colours are essential. I’ll bring my paints in case anyone is missing a colour. Colour print, as close in size to the canvas size you will be working with. Apple photo does inexpensive prints, ask for cardstock so the image will be easy to tape next to your canvas. Prime your canvas with a light coat of either raw or burnt umber. If you want, you can transfer your image to the canvas prior to class. In the long run though, we become better artists by working with a blank, toned canvas. It’s your choice though. An easel, medium of your choice, paper towels, garbage bag. If you’re using acrylic paint, include a slow drying medium.
Spring Growth in Winter: A Mixed Media Workshop
Date: April 18, 2026
Time: 10:00-4:00
Instructor: Susanne Rutchinski
Location: SIMS
Levels: Open to all
Medium: Mixed media (water based)
Max Participants: 14
Price: $55
In this workshop, I will share my process for creating wild flower scenes using all water based media. Starting with a textured substrate, together, we’ll work with inks, washes, rice paper and acrylics to create expressive art pieces. We’ll begin by making marks and prints on delicate rice paper, which you can incorporate into your final piece. You’re encouraged to bring bits of nature—leaves, grasses, feathers, block stamps—anything that inspires you—to print from and add personal touches. Throughout the day, I’ll share techniques for color mixing, layering, and composition, helping you discover new ways to bring depth and harmony to your work. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have a unique, mixed-media piece that you love—a reflection of your own creative process and connection to nature. Plus a few new tricks and ideas to keep you inspired. Materials: I will provide pre- textured substrates 12x12 inch, and canvas boards 9x12 inch (this is to save drying time, so you can get to creating if you wish) $5 each Extra mark making tools and stencils, sponges etc. A variety of Rice papers etc to print on Print inks and a large selection of acrylic paints (if you don’t have) Please bring A substrate to work with, firm such as birch cradle, or canvas board, if you don’t wish to use the pre textured ones I offer. Please pre-prepare it with gesso. Natural elements to print from such as small leaves, twigs, ferns, grasses, strings, stencils, even artificial flora . . .whatever ignites your imagination. Your favourite acrylics (or use mine) brushes, a container for water, rags, paper towels Mixing palette A rubber Breyer roller A matte medium, (Golden or Liquitex work well) Liquitex pouring medium in gloss, (I will bring some if you don’t have.) Bio: My formal degree is in Graphic Information Design; however paint, not pixels is now my foremost passion. I worked as a graphic designer in London, England and Vancouver for many years and have lived on Salt Spring since 2018. I don’t try to portray realistic botanicals or nature, for me the joy is in the imagining, put that bloom here, those weeds or clouds there, of being totally absorbed in the moment. It’s the perfect escape, whether wild or controlled. This is how I pay tribute to our natural world as it reminds us, to slow down, look closely and see how chaos and beauty go side by side. suerart.com
