Arts & Crafts

Painting Utah's Canyons in Watercolor: Skies, Stone, and Distance

Meets Fridays · 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM · on Zoom Fall 2026 · registration open Free to audit

This class runs in the Fall 2026 session. Registration is open now; lessons, materials, and the class discussion board are posted before it begins.

Utah's canyons and mountains, painted in watercolor the way the dry air actually rewards: wet-on-dry, with strokes you commit to instead of fussing over. We paint red-rock walls, slot canyons, rock spires, and three-plane mountain scenes, spending most of each night with a brush in hand rather than listening. I demo first and talk through the decisions as I work, then circulate and give you one fix at a time.

We'll dig into skies that stay fresh instead of going muddy (flat and graded, both in a single pass), leaving clean whites for clouds without lifting, and pushing depth by setting value ranges front to back and keeping distance cool against a warm foreground. On rock, we read shape before texture and use dry-brush and drag for convincing stone.

You'll also learn to time a second layer against a set first one, adjust for heat and cold air that wreck your dry time, and crop and compose from a photo before you ever touch paint. You'll leave with several finished canyon and mountain paintings and a real sense of timing.

What you'll learn

Paint wet-on-dry and adjust your timing for dry air, heat, and cold
Lay flat and graded skies in one pass and leave clean whites for clouds without lifting
Build depth with three planes, front-to-back value ranges, and cool-distance/warm-foreground color
Render rock, spires, and slot-canyon walls by reading shape first, then dry-brushing texture
Crop and compose a scene from a photo, then commit strokes and know when to stop

Lessons

Getting Reacquainted (and Why Wet-on-Dry)
We reset your assumptions about washes and timing, because most of the frustration people bring in is really a dry-air problem.
Skies That Read
The sky is where beginners die, so we practice fewer strokes, committing, and walking away.
- Why overworked skies go muddy15 min
- A flat sky in one pass, no fixing22 min
- Graded sky over a mountain ridge25 min
- Leaving whites: clouds without lifting20 min
- When it goes wrong: let it dry, then decide12 min
Layers, Not Detail
We build separation between foreground, midground, and background, which is what actually makes a landscape read.
Rock, Walls, and Canyon Texture
We paint the stuff I actually like painting: layered rock and the way light sits on a canyon wall.
- Reading rock: shape before texture18 min
- Dry-brush and drag for stone surface22 min
- Warm light on a slot canyon wall25 min
- A rock spire, glazed in layers25 min
Trees, Timing, and Committing
Pines, edges, and the intermediate leap of laying down a stroke you can't take back.
Composing a Finished Painting
We work from reference photos, plan the composition, and take a full scene all the way through.

Class discussion

The class discussion board opens when the class begins this fall. Auditors and enrolled students ask questions and share work here once the session starts.