Introduction to Watercolor Painting
March 3 – March 24, 2026 | 6–8:30 p.m.
Location: High Museum of Art, Red Workshop, Greene Family Education Center
Registration Required
Members get first access! Not a member? Join today!
The registration fee includes all materials, weekly access to world-class art in the museum’s galleries, hours of expert instruction, and access to a Friday afternoon Open Studio during the run of the class.
Registration opens to the public on December 3, 2025 at 10 a.m.
The registration fee includes all materials, weekly access to world-class art in the museum’s galleries, hours of expert instruction, and access to a Friday afternoon Open Studio during the run of the class.
Learn to illustrate light, shadow, form, and space using layers of transparent color in this dynamic introduction to watercolor painting. Through a series of practical exercises, experiment with wet-on-wet washes, dry brushing, and other expressive techniques to build depth and atmosphere. Discover how color, contrast, and composition can bring your imagery to life while finding your voice as a watercolor painter.
- Week 1: Begin with an introduction to watercolor materials and methods. Sketch simple silhouettes before applying paint to your paper using wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry techniques. Learn to identify lights, darks, and midtones in everyday objects, and practice painting these color values using a monochromatic palette.
- Week 2: Focusing on color temperature, learn to discern warm, neutral, and cool tones within your palette. Start a new painting by brushing a light, warm wash over a drawing, and progress by incorporating increasingly cool colors to serve as shadows.
- Week 3: Discuss color theory and expand your use of warm and cool tones to include colors of individual objects. Experiment with new tools and techniques, including the incorporation of watercolor pencil and opaque highlights, to add vivid detail to your painting’s focal point while keeping its background soft.
- Week 4: Combine the techniques studied during previous class sessions to create a watercolor still life painting. We will conclude our time together with a reflection on our work and a conversation about what we have learned.
About Studio Classes
Expand your art-making skills through guided, step-by-step instruction with expert teaching artists. Over multiple weeks, you will learn alongside other creative adults and delve deeply into the artistic process, explore new techniques, and build your practice.
This is an introductory-level Studio Class; it is designed to accommodate all levels of skill and talent. If you have never taken an art making class before, this is a great place to start. You will learn new skills that you can use in your artistic practice.
The registration fee includes all materials, weekly access to world-class art in the museum’s galleries, hours of expert instruction, and access to a Friday afternoon Open Studio during the run of the class.
About your Instructor
Larkin Ford grew up in rural North Carolina, which informs the enigmatic narratives he weaves through his art. Ford teaches drawing and painting at the High Museum of Art and Georgia State University and previously was a visual arts professor at Emory University’s Oxford campus. He has exhibited work nationally at MOCA GA, Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, Kai Lin Art, Whitespace, and Swan Coach House Gallery, and internationally in Ireland, Japan, and Belarus. He received his BFA from University of North Carolina (UNC) Asheville and his MFA from Georgia State University.
Please note that in the event of a session being canceled, March 31 is reserved as a makeup date.
Related Events
Explore the possibilities of surface design with Dye-Na-Flow: a fluid fabric paint that resembles watercolor and is designed to bond permanently with textiles.