Best Watercolour Painting Classes in Melbourne

Learning to paint can seem like an impossible task but with ClassBento’s variety of watercolour painting classes in Melbourne, you’ll be Van Gogh’ing it up before you can say “accentuated colour palette.” Being so prominent for its arts and culture makes Melbourne an ideal place to master the brush, and watercolour is a medium that’s as rewarding as it is challenging. What makes watercolour painting so infamous is how each stroke must be perfect otherwise the water-soluble nature of the paint can turn a quality piece into a muddled mess. But with our list of watercolour painting classes in Melbourne, you’ll be well on your way to perfecting your own masterpiece in no time. 

Watercolours for beginners

Never picked up a brush before? Walked into an art shop and felt completely out of your depth? Don’t stress! ClassBento has watercolour courses for every skill level, particularly complete beginners. Liana Kapelle - a NZ artist - runs courses out of Fitzroy in conjunction with creative collective Work-Shop. With a focus on getting the basics down-pat, Liana’s workshops are perfect for establishing the fundamentals of watercolour painting to ensure you have a strong base to create more complicated and imaginative pieces.

Not only will she teach you vital watercolour painting knowledge in regards to colour mixing, brushwork and texturing techniques, but she’ll also offer you advice on how to get the most out of your equipment, and how to utilise the vast array of art supplies available. At the conclusion of the class, you’ll also walk home with the piece you made in the class, so you can take your watercolour painting skills home with you to inspire your next piece!

ClassBento also organises a Beginners Painting class that will introduce to you a whole new watery world! This is a perfect option for small groups, office team building events, or a location-based hens night.

Getting ethereal with your watercolours

Watercolour Painting for beginners can often look past the landscape medium, as landscape watercolour painting presents challenges that can often be out of the realm of watercolour newcomers. Local Eltham artist Linda MacAulay is changing that, however. Her Watercolour Galaxy workshop is a spacey alternative to other watercolour classes as it offers individuals the opportunity to paint the skyline and the land it looks over, as opposed to individual things.

This class is suitable for beginners who are after a more ethereal painting experience. Out of all of the Melbourne workshops, Linda’s watercolour class spends the most time focusing on colour mixing, with wet-on-wet techniques to create colour combinations that almost form themselves. She also runs several other classes that focus on colour theory and tonal painting if you’re looking at continuing your journey into colour mixing. 

For the more discerning artist-to-be

If you’re looking for watercolour classes that are a touch more specific or you’re just chasing one of our more challenging Melbourne workshops, Liana also runs a Botanicals Illustrations class. In this workshop, you’ll learn the techniques associated not just with floral watercolour painting, but with observational drawing in the world of Botanics! Pick up in-depth knowledge of artwork composition and shading, as well as how to create layering and shading whilst maintaining scientific accuracy.

This watercolour class is ideal for a budding artist looking to expand their skill set, but it also is a good choice for people in the scientific field looking to add another string to their bow and potentially gives their work a more artistic flair. With Melbourne’s range of beautiful natural parks, there’s sure to be a mountain of inspiration just around the corner. 

If you’re chasing the darker arts, however, ClassBento also has you covered. Although not strictly a watercolour class, Work-Shop also host an Ink Drawing class that is becoming one of the most popular indoor activities Melbourne can boast! Hosted by artistic savant Simon O’Carrigan, you’ll learn how to blend artistic penmanship with sensational brushwork in order to create ink-based masterpieces using only a few tools. The combination of both the pen and the ink brush creates a truly unique visual piece and is an invaluable asset to any artist looking at expanding their horizons. 

Still life watercolour portraits

Still-life portraits make up a significant portion of watercolour painting around the world. Watercolour is such a perfect medium for still-life imagery due to the way the paints can replicate natural light. Although watercolours can be a somewhat more challenging medium, the way it can be manipulated to accurately depict still objects is incredibly rewarding once it’s been mastered. The Windsor Workshop on Chapel St can get you painting still-life pieces quickly and effectively with their Still Life Watercolour Painting class. Focusing on bringing out your own individual style, the class instructor will give you the essential techniques along with the freedom to find your own feet in the artistic realm of still-life painting. 

With such a variety of options, watercolour painting classes in Melbourne have got all your artistic bases covered, Whether you’re a beginner looking to nail the fundamentals or an intermediate painter trying to expand your bag of artistic tricks, ClassBento has Melbourne workshops perfect for you. So before you buy a bag of paintbrushes, an easel, full-colour palettes and an art smock try one of our watercolour painting workshops and discover what you can actually do and bring out the inner artiste.