Color Boot Camp in Oil with Susan & Doug Diehl
Skill Level: All Artists to Beginners to Professional
Friday-Sunday, February 5-7, 2027; 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$425 members/$450 non-members
If you’re painting still lacks the color impact you desire, consider this workshop. Far more than a “regular” color workshop, this rigorous course will heighten your awareness and ability to see color in all its attributes and deceptions. Susan and Doug will teach the Russian Impressionist method they employ to SEE and identify the color you wish to depict (especially in the neutrals and shadows), create a concept for that color, followed by a methodology for mixing pigment. These tactics guarantee you will be able to obtain any color you can conceive of! Also covered is a blueprint for creating color harmony; (the lack of which ruins the most paintings) and tactics in creating atmospheric space by harnessing colors magic. Also covered is the coveted skill of creating depth in your paintings by honing your color space skills. the artist will come away with pages of useful color swatches and a practical color mixing strategy. For more information, visit diehlfineart.com.
Break Free from Reference Photos in Pastel with Karen Margulis, PSA-MP, IAPS-EP
Skill Level: All skill levels are welcome.
Thursday-Saturday, March 18-20, 2027; 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$485 members/$535 non-members
Artists can all benefit from ideas to help us create more expressive paintings. Karen is always striving to interpret her subject by including her own personal touch rather than a copying the reference and painting exactly what she sees. In this workshop she will share my tips and techniques for the effective use of photos to inspire paintings. She will give you the tools you need to move away from copying the reference and to help you create stronger paintings. She will do multiple demos and share lessons and challenges as well as offer plenty of help at your easel.
Karen is a full-time artist and art educator. She lives in Atlanta Georgia with her husband, Michael. They have two children and 6 grandchildren! She received my BA in Education from the University of Florida.
She considers herself a contemporary landscape painter. She received recognition for her pastel paintings. She has exhibited her award-winning work around the world and has been published in The Pastel Journal for her wildflower and landscape paintings. She is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and a Masters Circle recipient of the International Association of Pastel Societies. She has also been a faculty member at the prestigious IAPS Conventions. For more information, visit karenmargulis.com.
Caption: Photo Courtesy of the Artist: Karen Margulis, Summer Buzz © pastel on paper © 2025
Atmospheric Landscapes in Watercolor with Keiko Tanabe, AWS, NWS, AIS, SDWS-MA
Skill Level: Ideal for Intermediate to Advanced Watercolor Artists who wish to deepen their impressionistic style and elevate both their technique and artistic voice.
Thursday-Saturday, June 3-5, 2027; 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$630 members/$680 non-members
Discover the beauty of painting landscapes that breathe with light, mood, and emotion. In this watercolor workshop, Keiko Tanabe guides artists on a journey from the foundation of structure to the expressive freedom of impression.
Through clear instruction and intuitive insight, Keiko will demonstrate how to simplify complex scenes, design with purpose, and infuse your paintings with atmosphere and feeling. During her live demonstrations, she provides a running commentary, offering an inside look at her thought process – how she interprets the subject, makes compositional decisions, and chooses colors and brushstrokes to express mood and intention. For more information, visit ktanabefineart.com.
Students will learn to balance control and spontaneity, creating paintings that are fresh, luminous, and deeply personal. With each session, you’ll gain the confidence to paint more freely and the understanding to turn everyday scenes into evocative works of art.
Learning Goals:
- Simplify landscapes into strong, readable shapes and values.
- Capture atmosphere and mood through color, light, and edges.
- Balance expressive brushwork with solid structure and design.
- Convey emotion and a sense of story through composition.
- Paint with confidence, freedom, and individuality.
Caption: Photo Courtesy of the Artist: Keiko Tanabe, Florence Yellow Facade, watercolor on paper © 2026
Intuitive Explorations with Acrylic with Joan Fullerton
Skill Level: All levels of experience are encouraged to attend.
Thursday, August 26 – Saturday, August 28, 2027, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$625 members/$675 non-members
Want more expressive art?
Want more confidence in yourself and your art?
Want to have a transformative experience with like-minded people?
This workshop will take you beyond worn-out or predictable painting methods. We will experiment with innovative acrylic techniques while cultivating a mindset of curiosity and self-confidence.
Inspiring demos, time to paint, and group critiques will reinforce your unique vision. Art discussions use non-judgmental, descriptive language, helping you discover and appreciate new, more expressive compositions.
“Draw, scrape, roll, drag, spray, stamp, lift, write, drip, your way to fascinating non-objective or abstracted representational subjects. Within the random marks and shapes, there is a story unfolding.”
Discussions will address confidence, procrastination, vulnerability, curiosity, courage, inspiration, intuition, metaphor, symbolic elements, competition, belief systems, and more!
Beginning students will find encouragement and confidence, while more advanced students will benefit from Joan’s insightful solutions to their artistic challenges. Be prepared for a light-hearted, imaginative experience.
Joan Fullerton holds BFA and MFA degrees in painting from the University of Wyoming. She was awarded the Outstanding Teaching Award while a college art instructor at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyoming, from 1990 to 2003. In 2003, she made the leap of faith to relocate to Taos, NM, to paint full-time. Over her eight years in Taos, Fullerton made her mark and established her reputation as a respected artist and teacher. In 2010, she moved to Denver, where she enjoys painting in the studio when not on the road teaching.
Joan’s work has been in galleries, juried shows, and museums since the early 70s and has been shown internationally in Italy, Nepal, and Japan. She is published in the 2010 edition of Open Studios Press, Visual Journeys, Art of the 21st Century, and Journeys to Abstraction #3, featured in Acrylic Artist Spring 2017, and the New Edition of the Encyclopedia of Acrylic Painting Techniques by Hazel Harrison. For more information, visit joanfullerton.com.
Caption: Photo Courtesy of Artist: Joan Fullerton, Summer Vibe, mixed media © 2026
Giving Life to Your Cityscapes in Acrylic with Brett Weaver
Skill Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Thursday, September 16 – Saturday, September 18, 2027, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$475 members/$525 non-members
This is a 3-day intenseive studio acrylic painting workshop specifically designed for intermediate level artists who want to take their cityscapes to the next level.
Students will focus on building successful cityscape paintings through strong design foundations and the use of figures to create energy, balance and movement. Brett encourages students to build confidence and growth by being honest and finding strength in their weaknesses. Brett will discuss combining references, moving figures and even making up figures to create a dialogue within the painting… “Strong silhouettes create body language that provides energy to make a painting speak.”
Students will work from their own photos to help build their own personal voice. Brett will work with students to simplify their reference material and see it more abstractly, finding creative patterns to incorporate into preliminary sketches that they will further develop into a larger painting. Brett will work individually with students and do daily class demonstrations as necessary focusing on design fundamentals of composition and drawing and establishing mood through color, harmony, shapes, and values.
Brett Weaver is a contemporary American impressionist who currently works and resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee with his wife Tianna and their twin children, Abbott and Emeline. Growing up in rural Tennessee, where his early childhood influences included faith, farming, engineering, and his family’s small-town country store, taught him to see the value of people, family, community, and the beauty of the world around him.
Brett paint with an abstract boldness and simplicity that comes together as you step away from his paintings and complete the details. His work offers a genre of visual poetry spoken through expressive shapes and layers of pigment to interpret and respond to his subject or lack thereof. His work relies more on design than subject matter, allowing for freedom and diversity ranging from traditional landscapes to abstract expressionism.
Although formally trained as a civil engineer, Brett continously pursued art and grew his skills through advanced studio classes and workshops with independent artists at every opportunity, until he finally switched careers at the age of 29. His knowledge of design and mathematics as underlying principle provide visual balance in his work and set the stage for his creative expression, establishing boundaries so he can go beyond them.
Drawing from his engineering background, Brett uses bridges, roads, canals and windows as a conduit with the viewers to enter a visual dialogue. Patterns of irregular repetition are offered as a vehicle for movemnet within the compositions. Occasional figures in his work are typically non-descriptive faceless metaphors, representing solitude and meditation in his landscapes and energy and personal struggles and relationships in his cityscapes. These elements invite the viewer to become part of the painting and complete the dialogue.
Brett has earned numerous awards and museum shows, and his work is included among an extensive list of private and public collections, including the Tennessee State Museum, Chattanooga Westin Hotel, and Princeton Historical Society. For more information, visit brettweaverstudio.com
Caption: Photo Courtesy of the Artist: Brett Weaver, Evening Cycle, acrylic on panel © 2026
Learn from a Master! Don’t miss the unique opportunity to receive one-on-one instruction from a nationally-recognized Master Artist! For more information about individual instructors, please visit their websites.
Master Artist Workshops are held in the Isenberg Art Academy classrooms located downstairs in the Museum. Enter on the North Patio – pond side at Big Spring Park.
If you are interested in a Master Artist Workshop that is SOLD OUT, please email your name and phone number to Laura E. Smith, Director of Education and the Isenberg Art Academy at lsmith@hsvmuseum.org to be added to the wait list. Members registration fee refers to Huntsville Museum of Art members.
Click the image or green button above to register for upcoming Master Artist Workshops.
The closest airport is the Huntsville International Airport. The airport code is HSV.
Here are five places to stay near the Huntsville Museum of Art.
AC Hotel by Marriott Huntsville Downtown (across the street – within two blocks)
435 William Avenue SW, Huntsville, Alabama 35801
Hotel Front Desk: 1-256-836-7776
Embassy Suites Hotel & Spa (across the street – within two blocks)
800 Monroe Street, Huntsville, Alabama, 35801
Hotel Front Desk: 1-256-539-7373
Homewood Suites by Hilton® (within six blocks)
714 Gallatin Street SW, Huntsville, Alabama 35801
Hotel Front Desk: 1-256-539-1445
Hampton Inn & Suites Huntsville Downtown (within two to three blocks)
313 Clinton Avenue W Street, Huntsville, Alabama, 35801
Hotel Front Desk: 1-256-270-9120
SpringHill Suites Huntsville Downtown (near Museum – not in walking distance)
745 Constellation Place Drive SW · Huntsville, Alabama 35801
Hotel Front Desk: 1-256-512-0188