A four-week watercolour course on Bass Lake
Wild Encounters
Intermediate Wildlife Watercolour
Painting animals, atmosphere and the landscapes they inhabit.
Spend four fall Friday afternoons painting the wild.
Join artist Jennifer Claveau at her Bass Lake studio for an immersive four-week exploration of wildlife, watercolour and the landscapes animals inhabit. Using Jennifer’s moose watercolour as a teaching example, we’ll explore expressive approaches to animal form, colour, texture, atmosphere and habitat.
The goal is not to reproduce Jennifer’s painting. Students will learn techniques they can apply to wildlife subjects and reference images of their own.
$265.55 including HST
Only 6 places available. Secure payment through the studio shop.
4 Friday afternoons • Oct. 16 – Nov. 6 • 1:00–3:30 PM • Bass Lake
Paint the encounter, not just the animal.
Wildlife rarely exists against a blank background.
A glimpse of a moose through the forest, a bird disappearing into branches or an animal emerging from mist is as much about atmosphere and habitat as it is about anatomy.
Wild Encounters explores how wildlife and landscape can become one unified watercolour painting.
Four weeks in the wild
Build a wildlife painting from first wash to final details.
Over four Friday afternoons, we’ll move through the process of creating expressive wildlife watercolours, from understanding the animal and planning the composition to building colour, creating habitat and bringing the final painting together.
Each week builds on the last, giving you time to experiment, develop your technique and work with individual guidance.
01
Week One
The Animal
Begin with observation, proportion and structure.
We’ll look at how to simplify wildlife anatomy into manageable shapes, establish gesture and proportion, work effectively from photographic references and plan a strong composition before the first wash touches the paper.
- Wildlife proportion and placement
- Simplifying complex animal forms
- Working from reference photographs
- Planning highlights and whites
- Composition
02
Week Two
Colour + Character
Build form through transparent colour.
Explore layering, glazing and warm and cool colour relationships while developing the features that give an animal presence and character.
- Transparent washes
- Glazing
- Colour mixing
- Building dimensional form
- Eyes and facial features
- Suggesting fur without painting every hair
03
Week Three
The Wild Around It
Let the landscape become part of the painting.
Explore expressive approaches to forests, foliage and atmosphere while learning how to suggest complexity without painting every leaf and branch.
- Wet-in-wet
- Negative painting
- Dry brush
- Granulation and texture
- Expressive mark making
- Trees and foliage
- Atmospheric perspective
04
Week Four
The Encounter
Bring animal and landscape together.
In our final session, we’ll work with edges, contrast, focal points and finishing details to create a unified wildlife painting in which the animal belongs to its environment.
- Lost and found edges
- Focal points
- Controlling contrast
- Integrating animal and habitat
- Final darks and details
- Knowing when to stop
Your painting, your wildlife
Wild Encounters is not a paint-by-numbers class and students are not expected to simply reproduce Jennifer’s moose.
Jennifer’s original moose watercolour will be used throughout the course to demonstrate techniques and decisions, but students will learn methods they can apply to wildlife subjects of their own.
Who is this course for?
Some previous watercolour experience is recommended.
You should already be reasonably comfortable using watercolour paints and creating basic washes, but you do not need previous wildlife-painting experience or advanced drawing skills.
This is an intermediate course designed for painters ready to move beyond introductory watercolour exercises and begin tackling more complex subjects.
What you'll learn
Techniques for wildlife in watercolour
- Wildlife proportion and anatomy
- Working from photographic references
- Transparent layering and glazing
- Expressive colour
- Fur and animal textures
- Eyes and facial features
- Lost and found edges
- Wet-in-wet landscape techniques
- Negative painting
- Trees and foliage
- Atmospheric perspective
- Creating depth
- Integrating wildlife with habitat
- Knowing when a painting is finished
Your instructor
Paint with Jennifer Claveau
Jennifer Claveau is a Canadian environmental artist, painter and educator whose work explores relationships between humans, wildlife and the landscapes we share.
Her wildlife paintings combine close observation with expressive colour, allowing animals to remain part of the environments they inhabit rather than appearing as isolated subjects.
In Wild Encounters, Jennifer shares the techniques she uses to move between observation and interpretation, helping students develop wildlife paintings that feel believable without becoming rigid or overworked.
Course details
- Friday, October 16, 2026 · 1:00 – 3:30 PM
- Friday, October 23, 2026 · 1:00 – 3:30 PM
- Friday, October 30, 2026 · 1:00 – 3:30 PM
- Friday, November 6, 2026 · 1:00 – 3:30 PM
- Course
- Wild Encounters: Intermediate Wildlife Watercolour
- Level
- Intermediate
- Format
- 4 weekly studio sessions · 2.5 hours each
- Dates
- Fridays, October 16 – November 6, 2026
- Time
- 1:00 – 3:30 PM
- Location
- Box of Paints Studio, Bass Lake, Oro-Medonte, Ontario
- Class size
- Small group
- Materials
- Students should bring their own watercolour paints and brushes. A detailed recommended materials list will be provided after registration.
Course fee
$235 + HST
$265.55 including HST
Small class sizes allow for demonstrations, individual instruction and plenty of painting time.
Ready to join us?
Wild Encounters is kept intentionally small, with only six places, so there is plenty of time for individual instruction. Register online and your place is confirmed.
$265.55 including HST
Only 6 places available. Secure payment through the studio shop.
Questions? Email jen@boxofpaints.ca
Wild Encounters
Four Friday afternoons. One wild subject at a time.
Fridays, October 16 – November 6, 2026
1:00 – 3:30 PM
$235 + HST
$265.55 including HST
Only 6 places available. Secure payment through the studio shop.