Andie Thrams

SIERRA FOREST PAINTING RETREAT

This retreat is full!
There are still openings in October’s Yosemite retreat below…
San Francisco State University | Sierra Nevada Field Campus
July 21-26, 2024
North Fork Yuba River, California
This six-day painting retreat shares many of my techniques for using watercolor, ink, and acrylic in the outdoors. We'll create paintings and Forest Prayer Flags on paper and canvas, indoors and outdoors, to evoke what is seen and experienced beneath the trees in and around the Sierra Nevada Field Campus— one of my favorite mountain retreats.

FOREST PAINTING RETREAT

Still openings!
Balanced Rock
October 10-13, 2024
Yosemite National Park, California
Join me in Yosemite this fall and share art and meditation practices to explore biophilia (joyful immersion in nature) and solastalgia (sadness about environmental damage) as we wander in Yosemite Valley's beautiful forests and create Forest Prayer Flags. We’ll paint, sketch, write, walk, learn about forest ecology, camp, and enjoy fine camp food in a secluded quiet Yosemite Valley campground. NOTE: Mid-October in Yosemite is a time of glorious autumn color, and secluded campsites in Yosemite Valley are rare indeed! 

THE MINDFUL FIELD JOURNAL:

Balanced Rock | Yoga Jambalaya
November 2-3, 2024 (details to come)
Yosemite Bug Rustic Mountain Resort & Health Spa
Midpines, California
Join me during one of my favorite events all year! Jambalaya is a mini yoga festival featuring yoga and mindfulness classes. We’ll wander outdoors with a field journal and simple tools in hand to document experiences and observations of the natural world—a practice that grounds us deeply into the present moment. For all levels.

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD
Live Online Studies with Watercolor & Gouache

Online Zoom with TreeSong Nature and Awareness Center
Saturday Mornings 9:30am—12:30pm
Spring Studies: March 23
Summer Studies: June 8
Autumn Studies: September 21
Winter Studies: December 7
I am delighted to continue with our TreeSong classes in our Zoom community! This series shares field-friendly painting techniques for capturing a sense of the wild complexity of the natural world. Working from live subjects, photos, looking out the window, or sitting outdoors, we create a series of studies to evoke the magic of each season in our painting. Step-by-step sequences are shared to mix colors, work wet into wet and wet over dry to build luminous layers, and add gouache (opaque watercolor) and colored pencil to add light over dark shapes and bright details. Our process emphasizes careful observation and intuitive responses. Q&A is encouraged! Participants end each class with a series of painted studies for future reference and inspiration.

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD
Recorded Classes for Download

A few of our favorite Watercolors in the Wild classes are now available for download! Selections include the indispensable foundational courses, Art Essentials and The Amazing Double Primary Color Wheel. (Both are highly recommended before taking any other classes.) Five additional classes share a diverse selection of techniques and subject matter. This series empowers field journal keepers, plein air artists, and makers of all levels to paint with more ease indoors and out. Step-by-step sequences explore watercolor and gouache painting techniques, color mixing, tools of the trade, field journal approaches, botanical studies, tips for painting outdoors, and how these practices deepen our connection to nature and each other.

Art Essentials — Tools, Templates & Grids (Zoom Recording)

Please take this class before any others! Most our classes require the useful techniques you’ll learn in this class.
Learn to create and employ the templates and grids used in our classes. Also covered are ways to use a myriad of art supplies, including inks, paints, brushes, pens, markers, pencils, pastel, calligraphy tools, erasers, sharpeners, rulers, palettes, and book arts tools, along with tips for building your personalized art supply kit.

The Amazing Double Primary Color Wheel
(Zoom Recording)

It’s called a double primary color wheel because it is painted with two each of the three primary colors: two reds, two yellows, and two blues. From these six specific primaries, we’ll create a beautiful color wheel with a stunning array of colors! This course, along with Art Essentials, is highly recommended before taking any other classes!

Painting Lichens with Watercolor & Gouache
(Zoom Recording)

Lichens and mosses provide delightful subjects for practicing watercolor and gouache painting techniques. We’ll follow a sequence of steps, starting with color studies, moving on to painting loose wet into wet shapes with watercolor, and finally building layers of complexity and detail with gouache, colored pencil, and watercolor glazes. You’ll create luminous studies portraying lichens and mosses!

Painting Spring Landscapes with Watercolor & Gouache, Part 1
(Zoom Recording)

Working from spring subjects, photos, looking out the window, or sitting outdoors, we’ll create a series of spring-inspired studies through a step-by-step sequence. We’ll mix colors, work wet into wet, and build luminous layers of watercolor to conjure up spring magic on our pages. End the class with painted studies ready to add new layers of light over dark using gouache and colored pencil during Part 2!

Painting Spring Landscapes with Watercolor & Gouache, Part 2
(Zoom Recording)

Continue with your work on a series of spring-inspired studies through a step-by-step sequence. Andie will demonstrate varied techniques for layering gouache (opaque watercolor) and colored pencil within your watercolor paintings. These effective approaches allow us to add light over dark shapes and lively bright details to our work. (It is recommended that you take Part 1 to be best prepared for this class.)

Autumn Leaves in Watercolor
(Zoom Recording)

Each found autumn leaf is a microcosm we can explore and record through observation, study, and painting. We will trace and sketch collected leafy shapes, add color with wet into wet watercolor techniques, and gradually build painted layers and glazes to evoke the complexity of each leafy world… ready to add more detail in our class, Autumn Leaves: Adding Detail with Ink, Gouache, Ink & Colored Pencil

Autumn Leaves: Adding Detail with Ink, Gouache, Ink & Colored Pencil
(Zoom Recording)

Ink, gouache (opaque watercolor), and colored pencil will invite us to add layers and details to our leafy paintings from Part 1 (or you may also work with other leaves you may have already painted). We’ll explore fun and effective ways to build depth complexity into watercolor nature studies, adding dark into light and light over dark. This is where the magic really emerges in painting!

Previous classes in our WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD series follow. The series is designed to empower field journal keepers, plein air artists, and makers of all levels to paint with increasing ease both indoors and out. Step-by-step sequences explored watercolor and gouache painting techniques, drawing, color studies, tools of the trade, field journal approaches, artist book creation, botanicals, composition & design, tips for painting outdoors, and how these practices can kindle joy and deepen our connection to nature and each other.

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Mark, Gesture & Composition

Create a collection of sampler pages exploring mark-making and composition basics using ink, pencil, and paint on paper. With the templates, tools, and skills developed in our last class, we’ll use grids to experiment with line and form, build mark-making skills, play with wild writing and gesture sketching, create texture, study value, and generate repeating patterns.Studies in black and white examine design concepts including, balance, contrast, movement, value, texture, symmetry, rhythm, pattern, and focus. Understanding these essentials deepen our ability to magically reveal what we love in the natural world through art making!

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Surface Design Magic & Spring Flora Folio, Part 1

Go big, and create a basic book arts structure! This two-part class invites spring flora into making a folding folio with pockets, perfect to hold your class artwork for future reference and inspiration. For Part 1, we’ll create shimmering paper surfaces on large sheets, inspired by your chosen flora. Directed experiments will dance between the careful and the wild, utilizing watercolor, ink, mica, scribing, and pastel to develop imagery. You’ll end Part 1 with painted paper, ready for folding, gluing, and adding finishing touches in Part 2.

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Surface Design Magic & Spring Flora Folio, Part 2

This two-part class invites spring flora into making a folding folio with pockets, perfect to hold your class artwork for future reference and inspiration. Our painted paper from Part 1 dried with a surface wonderfully receptive to building additional layers of drawing and painting, inspired by the palette, gesture, and design of your chosen plant. In Part 2, we’ll trim, fold and glue the folios together, adding finishing touches with gouache, colored pencil, ink, and mica. Your completed folio will be a structure with a zillion uses, and one you can make over and over and share with others.

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Paint a Forest Sunset with Watercolor and Gouache

Working from photos or from life, create forest sunset studies and paintings through a shared step-by-step sequence. Mix colors to evoke the dark greens of a forest at dusk, and the warm corals and reds at sunset. Paint wet into wet, glaze with watercolor to build luminosity, and experiment with capturing forest details with ink, gouache and colored pencil. Painting forests at sunset is one of my favorite activities, and I look forward to sharing this process with you!

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Paint a Spring Landscape with Watercolor & Gouache

Working from spring subjects, photos, looking out the window, or sitting outdoors, continue with your work on a series of spring-inspired studies through a shared step-by-step sequence. Andie will demonstrate varied techniques for layering gouache (opaque watercolor) and colored pencil within your watercolor paintings. These effective approaches allow us to add light over dark shapes and lively bright details to our work.

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Autumn Color Studies

Create a series of studies with a focus on the oh so sublime and beautiful colors of fall! We’ll begin with careful step-by-step paint mixing sequences, moving on into more fluid approaches to working with pure color. We’ll conjure up the unique palette of autumn as we take a deep dive into observing subjects such as foliage, fungi, and fruit. Learn ways to accurately mix colors as we create small luminous abstract paintings. This class will provide you with an excellent foundation for our next class: Paint an Autumn Landscape with Watercolor & Gouache.

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Paint an Autumn Landscape with Watercolor & Gouache

Working from fall subjects, photos, looking out the window, or sitting outdoors, we’ll create a series of autumn-inspired landscape studies through a step-by-step sequence. We’ll mix colors, work wet into wet, build luminous layers of watercolor, and work light over dark using gouache and colored pencil. You’ll end our class with images aglow with autumn magic. To be prepared for this class, it is recommended that you take October’s Autumn Color Studies class or that you already have solid color mixing skills.

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Paint a Sparkly Landscape with Watercolor & Gouache

Let’s conjure up a bit of wintery magic at year’s end! As the leaves fall, beautiful tree branches are revealed. We’ll use pencil, ink, watercolor, gouache, and something sparkly to capture the calligraphy of twigs and trees against a winter sky. We’ll work both carefully and wildly, allowing our energies to merge with those we observe. Brew up some spice tea and create sparkly paintings to share as winter greetings, holiday gifts, or just sink into your painting delight!

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Bind a Simple Field Journal

Start off the year with a brand new handmade field journal about the size of a smart phone! We’ll use basic materials to bind a simple easy-to-make book through a step-by-step process, as we fold and sew sheets of paper into a painted cover. You’ll finish our class with a journal compact enough to tuck into your purse or pocket — one you’ll be able to take with you most anywhere, enabling you to jot down sketches and notes whenever you wish!

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Painting Lichens withWatercolor & Gouache

Lichens and mosses provide delightful subjects for practicing watercolor and gouache painting techniques. We’ll follow a clear sequence of steps, starting with color studies, moving on to painting loose wet into wet shapes using watercolor, and lastly building layers of complexity and detail with gouache, colored pencil, and watercolor glazes. Your pages will fill with luminous painted studies portraying lichens and mosses.

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Paint a Spring Landscape with Watercolor

Working from spring subjects, photos, looking out the window, or sitting outdoors, we’ll create a series of spring-inspired studies through a shared step-by-step sequence. We’ll mix colors, work wet into wet, and build luminous layers of watercolor to conjure up spring magic on our pages. End the class with painted studies ready to add new layers of light over dark using gouache and colored pencil during our next class!

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Painting Winter Flora with Watercolor & Gouache

This final class in our fall series will use aspects from all our previous autumn classes to conjure up a bit of wintery magic. Brew up some spice tea and enjoy this quiet time to create sparkly paintings you can share as winter greeting cards, holiday gifts, or simply for your own pleasure and delight. We’ll observe and paint winter flora such as evergreen foliage, winter berries, pine cones, adding a bit of seasonal sparkle for the sheer fun of it.

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Autumn Flora

Connect to this big wild world by deeply observing, drawing, and painting autumn’s delightful forms and colors. We’ll wander into nearby Hoyt Arboretum to collect objects and ideas, returning to the studio for guided studies using watercolor, gouache, ink, and a bit of gold leaf. Our projects will combine careful rendering techniques and accurate color mixing with wilder less controlled approaches as we work towards completing at least one larger painting. We’ll invite effortless beauty into our work and open ourselves to the magic and healing aspects of making art in deep response to nature. 

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Sierra Flora

Painting with watercolors in wild places can generate powerful alchemies for revealing nature’s beauty and complexity. It can also be overwhelming. This course will provide clear in-depth instruction on the technologies and magical properties of watercolors, ink, and gouache, and how to use this knowledge to paint outdoors with ease and confidence. Sequential studies, inspired by summer flora, will demystify the watercolor process and deepen your creative ways. We’ll cover fundamentals such as paper choices and prep; types of paints, brushes, & supports; proper care of materials; effects of gum Arabic and ox gall; wet into wet & glazing techniques; painting in layers; plus binding, framing, & other finishing options for your work. We’ll also consider why we value wildness, and how our creative work has the power to connect us deeply to what is wild within, to the wilds surrounding us, to each other, and why this matters. You’ll create a collection of paintings for future reference and inspiration!

WATERCOLORS IN THE WILD:
Autumn Flora

Create a series of intimate studies of autumn’s forms and colors, including leaves, lichen, and seed pods, using watercolor, ink, pencil, gouache, and found materials. During forays into aspen groves, and in the studio, we'll collect ideas, leaves, and other objects and experiment with drawing and painting techniques designed to empower painting with ease outdoors. We’ll invite natural materials into our process: using leaves for printing and as stencils; dipping twigs into ink for drawing; and working with found forest charcoal. Demos will include painting wet into wet/wet over dry, color mixing, working in layers to build complexity, light over dark with gouache, and more. Your studies will be a reference and inspiration source for future projects. All levels are invited. 

INSTAGRAM VIDEOS

You can watch my free short art tutorials for all ages & abilities on Instagram TV. The focus is on making art at home and outdoors using basic materials and techniques. See you there!

WILD YOGA WILD ART WILD HAWAII

Retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii with Dennis Eagan & Andie Thrams  
We hope to return to Hawaii… please stay tuned for our next retreat!
Immerse yourself in the nurturing practices of yoga, art making, island adventuring, and healthy eating during a blissful week in Hawaii! Quieter pursuits of watercolor painting, meditation, pranayama, and restorative yoga will balance more vigorous activities of vinyasa yoga, hiking, swimming, and snorkeling. This retreat is limited to 12 participants, and all levels of yoga and art experience are invited!

ANDIE’S TEACHING THOUGHTS

I have been teaching adults and children since 1990 in a wide range of art processes, including watercolor painting, color theory, book arts, drawing, design fundamentals, field journal practices, and private creativity mentoring. Most classes involve artmaking in the outdoors, and all classes emphasize empowering the individual to bring her own unique creative vision to light.

• I am a believer in ART.

• I believe that when we are open to our own creative depths and to the wild world all around us, magic & healing can happen.

• Kids know this, but we seem to forget this along the way…

• My teaching is about reconnecting to the big wild world we share through art making.

• I truly believe this can heal the world…. and more than ever before, Earth needs our healing energies.

• All skill levels are invited to my classes, unless noted otherwise.

• Age requirement is typically 12 and up.

ONE STUDENT’S THOUGHTS ON COLOR

Science journalist, Emily Underwood, created the images to the left during my 2019 Spring Art Retreat. She also posted a delightful piece about her retreat experience titled, Color Theories, on the blog The Last Word on Nothing. Here is a snippet and where to find her complete post:

Most scientists agree that color vision evolved to help us notice what’s important to survival: lush greenery, ripe red fruit, the flush of sexual arousal. Colored light can also directly affect our bodies, causing the heart to beat faster and triggering the release of hormones like cortisol. On the second day of our class, Andie took us to a trail into a sloping meadow covered in blue flowers. As I looked at the blossoms, the color oscillated rapidly between blue and purple. They seemed to vibrate, and I did too. — Emily Underwood