Fridays, 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 
Instructor: James Toogood   
Ten-Week Condensed Course (45 Hours) 

Enrich your knowledge of painting with an in-depth look at watercolor. Thoroughly investigate a wide range of watercolor materials and techniques from your choice of landscape, still life, portrait, and figure subjects. The course is designed to equip each participant with the knowledge and skills necessary to make accomplished, personally rewarding watercolor paintings. Open to watercolorists of all levels and to acrylic/oil painters looking to broaden their skills.

Learning Objectives

• Students will learn about color theory as applied to watercolor.
• Students will receive a comprehensive explanation of watercolor materials and tools, with particular focus will be paid to the properties of paint and pigments as they interact with the paintbrushes and paper.
• Through both discussions and demonstrations, first time participants and beginners will learn a variety of techniques that are fundamental to watercolor, presented in a systematic step by step method. Participants can expect to have regular individual instruction, given at their current skill level.
• Focus also will be paid on acquiring the skills needed to achieve a richness of color and a feeling of light.
• Participants will work from direct observations from the still life and model, or from their own source material. Those not taking the class for credit will have the option to work on landscape, still life, portrait and figure or abstraction, as they wish.
• Participants will be exposed to a variety of watercolor styles and encouraged to discover one’s own personal aesthetic.

Image: James Toogood

Register by: January 16 
Materials List - Coming Soon 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Mondays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Justine Ditto
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours) 

Painting and printmaking go hand-in-hand, not only as adjacent mediums but in combination. This freeing and instructive course presents printmaking techniques as jumping off points to making mixed media work in spirit of experimentation and personal expression. Learn how to make monotypes, drypoints, and screenprints as a foundation for incorporating your choice of graphite, colored pencil, acrylic, watercolor, oil paint, and/or collage. Content includes technical advice from an artist-instructor ideally skilled in a variety of media as well as critiques to expand your creative boundaries. This class is perfect for painters/draftspeople seeking to expand their processes, printmakers seeking to employ painterly and mixed media techniques, and anyone with love of color and experimentation. Open to all levels – no prior printmaking or painting experience required. Tuition includes a $20 materials fee.

Image: Justine Ditto

Register by: January 20 
Materials List - Coming Soon
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Mondays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Roberto Osti 
Twelve-Week Course (36 Hours) 
Note: No class during Spring Break, March 2 - 8.

Paint portraits from a variety of models using the direct painting method. Examine the proportions and volumes of the head, as well as the placement, structure, and characteristics of the facial features, through preliminary drawings and demonstrations. Develop color using a limited palette to understand how to use chroma, temperature, value, tint, and tone. Instruction will address materials, composition, paint handling, and color mixing, blending, and theory. Content includes at least one cast study from PAFA's historic collection to improve understanding of modeling form through value. Homework assignments working from photos, Masterworks, or oneself/others will encourage students to learn to make personal aesthetic and technical choices and to practice concepts addressed in class. Open to all levels, this course is excellent for beginners as well as experienced students who want to review fundamental techniques or who simply enjoy painting portraits from life. Note: Course tuition includes a $75 model fee. 

Image: Roberto Osti, portrait detail.

Register by: January 20 
Materials List - Coming Soon 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Wednesdays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi 
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours) 

Learn to explore new possibilities and paint more intuitively under the guidance of artist/critic/mentor KassemAmoudi. Work from personal subject matter (objects, images, emotions, or ideas) to find your own visual language, informed by examples from contemporary and modern art. Examine how to use concepts of color, harmony, focal point, space, and mark-making as powerful tools of personal expression. Instruction is geared toward open painting time supported by critiques and advice from the instructor as he works one-on-one with students to guide them in their personal style and goals. This course is excellent for students pursuing abstract or nonobjective imagery, seeking knowledgeable feedback and a focused community painting environment. Painting experience recommended.

Image: Kassem Amoudi

Register by: January 28 
Materials List - Coming Soon 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Wednesdays, 1 - 3:30 p.m. (Zoom meetings supported by interactive asynchronous Canvas content)
Instructor: Kate Samworth 
Eight-Week Course (24-Hour Equivalent) 

Examine the social, scientific, religious, political, and economic factors that influenced centuries of cataloging the natural world, from ancient Greece to the Enlightenment. In this course, which combines art history with hands-on studio practice, students will learn to identify and imitate the traditional printmaking techniques that are integral to natural history illustration through a series of demonstrations in mixed media. Weekly hands-on Zoom sessions will be supplemented by recorded presentations on art history. Highlighted topics in science will encompass botany, ornithology, zoology, anatomy, entomology, cabinets of curiosity, marine life, and geometry in nature. Note: For intermediate-level students; prior still life drawing experience required.

Image: Kate Samworth, Ch.7 - Why Fish Don't Exist

Register by: January 28 
Materials List - Coming Soon 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.Information for PAFA CE Online Courses

Fridays, 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan 
Ten Week Course (18 Hours) 

Using oil or acrylic paints, exploit a wide range of techniques and artistic languages to transform everyday reality into expressive, symbolic, or personal statements. Base your paintings on unique studio still-life arrangements or use your own photographs as a starting point, and progress to working from a life model during the final weeks of the course. Topics discussed and demonstrated include using color as an emotive element, designing compositions to convey mood and movement, and employing energetic mark-making. For less experienced students, materials, color mixing, and basic techniques are also reviewed.

Course Objectives

Students will learn…

• Selection and use basic materials, including the characteristics of various commonly used colors, solvents, and mediums 
• Execution of a variety of direct and indirect painting methods. 
• Approaches to interpreting and modifying observed reality to achieve emotive, symbolic, and compositional goals 
• Descriptive, emotive, and symbolic use of color, shape, and mark 
• Basic color theory and color mixing  

Image: Frederic Kaplan

Register by: January 30 
Materials List - Coming Soon 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Thursdays, 1 - 4 p.m. 
Instructor: Rebecca Gilbert 
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours) 

Printing from a drawing carved into wood is the oldest and most straightforward form of printmaking. Expand the expressive possibilities of the medium by infusing color into the process! Learn reduction and multiple block relief printmaking techniques to produce vibrant, layered color prints. Instruction will cover all steps from start to finished print: material selection and use, image planning, tool handling for a variety of mark-making tactics, reduction and multiple block processes, color mixing, printing by hand and on an etching press, registration techniques, cleaning, and editioning. All levels welcome. Tuition includes a $30 lab fee.

Image: Rebecca Gilbert, Momento Mori/Skulls, Reduction and Multiple Block Woodcut.

Register by: February 5 
Materials List - Coming Soon 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Tuesdays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Matthew Courtney 
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours) 

Unlock your creativity through the art of sculpting with clay. Through hands-on instruction and practice, learn essential techniques such as pinching, slab-building, coil-building, and surface treatments. Explore the principles of form, texture, and composition, as well as the fundamentals of the firing process. Join us to express yourself and develop your sculpting skills in a supportive and inspiring environment -- open to both beginners and experienced artists! Tuition includes a $30 lab fee.

Image: Matthew Courtney, 6 Birds on a Beam, 2016.

Register by: February 17 
Materials List - Coming Soon 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.