Drawing, watercolor, natural pigment making, professional feedback/guidance.

I have a few slots open for private lessons, in-person (in the Los Angeles area) or on ZOOM. We will explore your goals, resolve the things that you are struggling with, and focus on the projects that interest you most - on a schedule that works for you.

In-person lessons at your home are $125/hour

Zoom lessons are $75/hour

For more info, email me.

Saturday, February 28, 2:00 - 4:00 PM in person

$75.00

Join as we familiarize ourselves with oak galls, the growths created when a gall wasp lays her eggs in the branch of an oak tree.

Explore the surprising alchemy of making natural pigments from locally sourced materials. In this workshop we will make oak gall ink, a purple-black or brown-black ink made from iron salts mixed with the tannic acid from oak galls.

This type of ink was the standard ink formulation used between the 5th and 19th centuries. Leonardo da Vinci used it as his drawing ink, and oak gall ink was used to write the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

At the end of the workshop we’ll use oak gall ink to make drawings of acorns from close observation.

Participants are asked to bring their own mallet, small hammer, or rolling pin for smashing the oak galls and an 8 oz (or larger) clean jar with a tight-fitting lid for making your ink. Reusing empty food jars is encouraged. We recommend dressing in clothing you are fine getting messy.

Image credit: KC Bitterman, student

Exact dates and time to be announced. Use the button below to email me with your interest and I will send you updated information.

Learn how to more accurately see color in your subjects and interpret effectively using watercolor. Through a series of hands-on exercises and guided demonstrations, we will explore the fundamentals of color theory, hue, value, intensity, and temperature. By grasping these foundational concepts, you'll gain the confidence to manipulate your palette with precision. And you'll learn how to troubleshoot when things go wrong! We'll complete both exercises and fully realized paintings of both still life and landscape. This course is suitable for beginning and advanced watercolorists.

Image credit: Ling Bailey, student

Begins February 5

Live on ZOOM on Tuesday nights from 6:00 - 8:00 pm PACIFIC

Each week I will demonstrate watercolor techniques that we will practice in class. Then, between classes, you will paint a subject of your choice in which you will use the techniques we practiced that week. In other words, this course is a deep dive into watercolor techniques and it provides an opportunity to put those techniques to use in your own work. I will provide a Google folder of images that you can paint from - but you can also use/find your own. I will provide feedback on your paintings at the beginning of each Zoom session.

There are three ways to participate in this course:

1. Live on Zoom: on Thursday nights from 6:00 - 8:30 PM PACIFIC, February 5 through March 26.  Includes live feedback and recordings. Cost:  $195 for all 8 sessions

2. Recordings only: (no live participation).  Does not include feedback but you can register for the Art Critique Workshop for feedback. Recordings will be emailed to you within 48 hours of the live session (by Saturday.)  Cost:  $95 for all recordings 

3. Ala Carte: choose which demonstration recordings you want and pay only for those. Does not include feedback but you can register for the Art Critique Workshop for feedback. Cost: $20 each

Image credit: Laurel Hiestand, student

Begins February 10

Live on ZOOM on Tuesday nights from 6:00 - 8:00 pm PACIFIC

Work independently and receive feedback on your work in this weekly critique session. This is critique/feedback only, no demonstrations. Feedback from Kim Russo and other students about your independant work.

These critique sessions are excellent if you benefit from feedback, community and a weekly schedule. The work you do can be in any material at all - not limited to watercolor. 

Limited to 10 participants each session.

There are two ways to participate in this workshop:

1. Attend all of the 8 week sessions live on ZOOM which includes the recordings.  Limited to 7 participants. Cost: $120 for 8 sessions

2. Ala Carte: attend specific, individual sessions.  Ala Carte is limited to 3 participants each session.  Cost:  $15 each session

We’ll paint from photographed natural forms such as leaves, flowers, trees and fruit. We'll improve our ability to slow down and observe - to see value, shape, form, texture, light, and space in the living world and translate our experience into watercolor with awareness and sensitivity.  Color mixing, paint application and brushwork will be highlighted.  

This course is best suited for beginning students who have taken an introductory watercolor course and want to continue to build their skills.

Image credit: Melinda Howell, student

This experimental and explorative watercolor course is appropriate for any level of watercolor experience. We'll work with a variety of materials in addition to watercolor:  ink, graphite, watercolor pencils, frisket, opaque paint, oil pastel, and collage. Each week a new material will be introduced, and techniques for mixing it with watercolor will be demonstrated.  Students will choose their own photos - or work from life - to put each technique into practice.  Feedback will be productive and supportive.   

This course is appropriate for beginning through advanced students.

Image credit: Cynthia Nalbach, student

We’ll meet at a beautiful location to paint from life using ink and watercolor. Instruction on two ways to combine ink and watercolor will be demonstrated.

Image credit: Connie Woodhead, student (after WIlliam Turner)

In this course, we will study the watercolor paintings of three important artists in order to build a foundation of artistic techniques that will inspire your future work. During the first six weeks of this course we will practice the watercolor techniques of William Turner, Berthe Morisot, and David Hockney.  Sessions will include a little art history, observations about each artist’s approach and the creation of a direct copy of their work.  Along the way you will expand your brushwork, color mixing, and paint application skills.  In the final two weeks you will choose your own image to paint, and you’ll create three versions in the “style” of each painter.   

This is not a beginning course; previous experience with watercolor and a curiosity about art history are necessary. 

This one day workshop is for you if you want to learn how to create a focal point, or area of main interest, in your watercolor paintings, along with tips on how to lead the viewer’s eye around a composition.

We’ll work from still life objects.  During the first two hours, we will talk about eight different ways to create focal points in paintings, and you’ll draw a line drawing from a detail of the still life onto two sheets of watercolor paper.  After a break, you’ll create two paintings of the same detail, but you’ll use a different focal point idea in each. I’ll work with you individually on ideas for leading the viewer’s eye around your composition. We will reserve time at the end of the workshop to look at everyone’s work and discuss the results.