Half day acrylic workshops
Three to four hours on a single painting, usually one subject worked start to finish. Materials are provided and you leave with a finished canvas.
Oro-Medonte · Orillia · Barrie · Midland · Muskoka
Art classes and painting workshops in Central Ontario
I am Jennifer Claveau, a wildlife and landscape painter working out of Green Forest Gallery on Bass Lake in Oro-Medonte. I teach small group workshops for adults in acrylic, drawing and watercolour, and most people who paint with me drive in from Orillia, Barrie, Midland or the Muskoka lakes.
How I teach
Every class starts with looking. Before anyone mixes a colour we talk about the subject, a heron standing in shallow water, the way light lands on a wet rock, the specific green of a cedar edge in late August. Painting gets much easier once you have decided what you are actually looking at, and that habit of close observation is the thing I most want people to take home.
From there I demonstrate, then you work while I move around the room. Groups are deliberately small, usually six people or fewer, so there is real one to one time for everyone. Complete beginners are welcome and so are people returning to painting after years away. Nobody is expected to arrive with skills or supplies.
The subject matter comes out of my own practice: Ontario wildlife, wetlands, lakes and forest, plus colour work and experimentation with texture and natural pigment. You can see where the teaching comes from in the gallery of original paintings and prints or read more about my background and practice.
Types of workshops
Full day sessions and retreats
Longer days with a catered lunch, room for two paintings or one more ambitious piece, and time for demonstrations between working stretches.
Drawing and watercolour
Quieter sessions built around line, value and proportion in graphite and charcoal, plus soft watercolour washes for anyone who wants a portable practice.
Private and group bookings
Friends, families, workplaces, community organizations and artist groups. These run at the gallery or travel to your space anywhere in the region.
Where the classes happen
The teaching studio is at Green Forest Gallery on Bass Lake, Oro-Medonte, Ontario. These are the communities people travel in from, with honest drive times so you know what you are signing up for.
The studio itself
Oro-Medonte
Green Forest Gallery on Bass Lake is the home studio, and it is where the regular class calendar runs. Sessions are held in the gallery space surrounded by finished work, with the lake and forest a few steps away for outdoor sketching when the weather allows.
More about painting classes in Oro-MedonteAbout 15 minutes from the Bass Lake studio
Orillia
Orillia is the closest town to the studio, and most people who paint with me regularly drive in from there. If you are searching for adult painting classes in Orillia, the Bass Lake sessions are almost certainly your nearest option. Private groups from Orillia can also book me to come to their own space.
About 25 to 30 minutes from the Bass Lake studio
Barrie
Barrie painters come out to Bass Lake for the scheduled workshops, and I occasionally run private sessions for Barrie workplaces, community groups and friend groups at a venue of their choosing.
About 35 to 40 minutes from the Bass Lake studio
Midland and Penetanguishene
Georgian Bay shoreline, wetlands and the bird life around Wye Marsh feed a lot of the subject matter in my wildlife work, so painters from Midland tend to recognise the places in the classes. Group bookings in the Midland area are welcome.
About 40 minutes to an hour from the Bass Lake studio
Muskoka
My roots are in Muskoka through the Green Forest Gallery years in Bracebridge and Vankoughnet. Muskoka workshops happen as seasonal and retreat style sessions rather than a weekly schedule, so they are announced on the classes page and to the studio list first.
Upcoming workshops
AcrylicWildlifeLandscape
Introductory Painting Retreat
- Sunday, September 6
- 10:00am to 1:00pm
- Green Forest Gallery, Bass Lake
- 6 of 6 spaces left
A relaxed three hour acrylic painting workshop for adults on Bass Lake. Paint a wildlife or landscape study from start to finish, with a catered lunch in the gallery.
Beginner to intermediate, adults
$85 CAD
View classCommon questions
Do I need any experience?
No. The workshops are built for adults of all skill levels and a good share of every group has never painted before.
Do I bring my own supplies?
Materials are included unless a listing says otherwise. Bring clothes you do not mind getting paint on.
Can you teach my group somewhere else in the region?
Yes. Private sessions travel to Orillia, Barrie, Midland and Muskoka venues. Email me with your group size, rough date and location and I will put together a plan.