About this Event
Watercolor for Beginners: Three-Session Workshop Series with Asya Baldwin
Discover. Choose. Combine. Express.
What if watercolor stopped feeling unpredictable — and started feeling exciting?
Watercolor can be wonderfully spontaneous, luminous, and expressive. But for a beginner, it can also feel mysterious: Why did the paint move that way? Why did that edge dry too hard?
How do artists create those beautiful soft skies, flowing washes, delicate textures, and unexpected effects?
In this three-session series, artist and instructor Asya Baldwin takes the mystery out of watercolor — without taking away its magic.
Rather than simply following a step-by-step painting, students will discover how watercolor actually behaves. Through demonstrations, hands-on experiments, contemporary watercolor examples, and approachable painting projects, students will learn to recognize different techniques, understand what they can do, and begin choosing them with intention.
No previous watercolor or drawing experience is required.
Three Saturdays. Three hours each. A journey from experimentation to artistic expression.
NOVEMBER 7 2026
11-2PM
SESSION 1 — DISCOVER
What Can Watercolor Do?
This is where the adventure begins. Students will explore washes, wet-on-wet, dry brush, flowing paint, textures, and special effects while discovering just how many possibilities watercolor offers.
We’ll also look at contemporary watercolor paintings together — not simply to admire them, but to begin seeing them through an artist’s eyes:
How did the artist create that soft edge? Why does one area feel transparent while another feels textured? Which technique created that atmosphere?
Instead of worrying about making a “perfect painting,” students will have the freedom to experiment, observe, and discover. The goal of the first session is simple: become curious about watercolor instead of intimidated by it.
NOVEMBER 14 2026
11-2PM
SESSION 2 — CHOOSE & COMBINE
From Clouds to Rain, Water & Atmosphere
Now that we know what watercolor can do, how do we decide which technique to use? We begin with one of watercolor’s most beautiful subjects: clouds.
Students will explore different ways of creating clouds, skies, soft atmospheric transitions, and changing weather, then put those discoveries into practice in a small landscape.
From there, we take the next step: combining techniques within one painting. Using storm clouds, rain, and water as our subject, students will create an atmospheric seascape and discover how the softness of wet-on-wet can work alongside the energy and texture of dry brush. This is the moment when separate watercolor “techniques” begin to become a painting language.
NOVEMBER 21 2026
11-2PM
SESSION 3 — EXPRESS
Flowers, Flowing Paint & Creative Freedom
For our final session, we loosen up. Students move to a larger format and create an expressive floral watercolor while exploring some of the most playful and beautiful possibilities of the medium: splattering, salt, flowing paint, blooms, plastic wrap, and unexpected watercolor effects.
But there is an important difference between an effect that simply looks interesting and one that actually makes a painting stronger.
Students will learn to ask:
Where should I let the watercolor flow? Where should I control it? Which effects support the flower, movement, light, or mood — and which ones are simply decoration? This final painting brings everything together: discovery, choice, combination, and expression.
You Don’t Need to “Know How to Paint” to Begin
This series was created specifically for beginners.
You don’t need previous watercolor experience. You don’t need drawing experience.
And you don’t need to arrive already knowing what your artistic style is.
You only need curiosity and a willingness to experiment.
By the end of the series, students will have created several watercolor studies and a larger final painting. More importantly, they will leave with something that lasts beyond those individual projects: a better understanding of how watercolor works and greater confidence in making their own artistic choices.
Discover what watercolor can do.
Learn how to choose. Learn how to combine. Then make it your own.
About the Instructor
Asya Baldwin is a Kansas City-area representational artist and experienced art educator who is joining KCAC as a workshop instructor for the first time.
Classically trained in drawing and painting in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Baldwin has been drawing and painting for more than 35 years and teaching art for more than 16. Her teaching emphasizes understanding the language of painting rather than simply copying a finished image, helping students develop the skills and confidence to make their own artistic decisions.
Working in oil, watercolor, and porcelain painting, Baldwin is especially interested in wildlife, botanical subjects, light, and atmosphere.
What to Bring
Students should bring:
- Watercolor paints you already own — you do not need to purchase a new set for this class
- Princeton Aqua Elite Synthetic Long Round Brush, Size 6
- Large round watercolor brush, Size 10–12
- Fabriano Artistico Watercolor Block, 5 × 7", Extra White
- Flat white plastic palette with open space for mixing
- Artist tape or low-tack tape
- HB pencil or mechanical pencil
- Soft eraser
- Two water containers
- Paper towels or a clean absorbent cloth
- Small spray bottle
A hair dryer is optional. One will be available during class, but students are welcome to bring their own.
Provided
Asya will provide the larger-format watercolor paper for the final floral painting along with salt, plastic wrap, and other small materials used for special-effects exercises and demonstrations.
KCAC will provide drawing boards/oversized clipboards for working with watercolor paper.
Event venue & nearby stays
Kansas City Artists Coalition, 3200 Gillham, Kansas City, United States
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