Events at the Hispanic Arts Building
New Mexico Expo Fairgrounds, Albuquerque
All Workshops 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
No Registration Required for Free Public Demos
New Mexico Watercolor Society Workshop:
Tina Stallard
Sunday-Tuesday, March 22-24, 2026
Free One Hour Demo Monday, March 23, 9:30am
High Impact Compositions in Watercolor
The Guest Instructor, Tina Stallard, NMWS is an award-winning artist trained in Graphic Design at the Univ. of Calif. Berkeley Extension. This workshop will focus on understanding the powerful compositional techniques for designing successful paintings.
Working from photos (personal or provided), participants will learn to identify and distill the essentials of composition. Then, students will practice developing balanced perspectives and value studies for stronger foundations. This process will minimize clutter, while strengthening and refining the painting center of interest.
Participants will also develop color palettes; exploring warm vs. cool colors and the roles they play. Starting with the backgrounds using a “wet into wet” technique, artists will block in the shapes and values from their value study to produce soft edges and atmospheric effects that unify and harmonize the background and focal point. As time allows there will also be discussions/demos of effective “tips and tricks”, along with one on one time.
Fee is $300, payable at time of registration via NMWS website. Workshop registration open after Jan. 1, 2026. Limited to 14 students.
Workshop Coordinators: Barbara McGuire and Ron Nedrow
Rio Grande Art Association Workshop:
Tom Blazier
Tuesday – Thursday, March 31 -April 2, 2026
Free 1 Hour Demo Wednesday, April 1, 9:30-10:30am
Painting the Big Sky
New Mexico is known for its spectacular skies, and Tom is a master at painting these. This workshop is well timed in advance of the summer monsoon season which inspires all of us.
The sky, whether serving in a supportive role or as the main subject of a painting, is of utmost importance. Master landscape painter John Constable observed that, “the sky is the chief organ of sentiment in painting.” And Thomas Cole said, “the sky is the soul of all scenery.”
Whatever your expressive goal is, understanding how the sky influences the subject will be one of your first decisions. This oil or acrylic painting workshop will explore ways of creating beauty through light, drama, color and luminosity. Attention will be given to the relationship between sky and ground and ways to strengthen compositions through effective placement of cloud shapes.
We will use direct and indirect approaches and employ impressionistic techniques to create a sense of atmosphere in the landscape. The class will include explanation, demonstrations, and painting time with individual instruction.
While principles presented in the workshop apply to any medium, it is strongly advised that students use oil or acrylic in class. This workshop is for intermediate and advanced levels and for those who have experience working with oils or acrylics. Advanced students and students who have received prior cloud and sky instruction from Tom may work on independent sky-themed projects and personal expression while attending the workshop (contact Tom in advance for suggestions about this option).
Mar 31: The focus will be basic principles and how to create a sense of atmosphere and light
Apr 1: The focus will be designing clouds, and composing remarkable cloud shapes in the sky that can enforce, echo, or create the theme
Apr 2: The focus will be connecting the sky to the ground and making it work as a well composed and unified whole
Please direct any questions about the workshop to tblazier@hotmail.com. Also visit Tom Blazier’s website: tomblazier.com
Tuition: RGAA Members $285/Non-members $320/Deposit $160 when registering. Balance due March 6, 2026. Enrollment is limited. Register through
rgaanm.org
workshopchair@rgaanm.org
Pastel Society of New Mexico Workshop:
Barbara Jaenicke
Tuesday-Thursday, April 14-16, 2026
Free Demo Tuesday, April 14 9:30-noon
Painting the Poetic Landscape
Once you learn landscape painting basics, it’s time to learn how to add the poetry. Barbara’s goal is to equip you with skills that will move you beyond merely replicating landscape subjects, to conveying a distinct, poetic visual message that strikes an emotional chord with the viewer.
Skills covered include composition, editing, value structure, color temperature, chroma, and edge control. Barbara will also address how to make every stroke count, considering the mark-making particulars of how you apply pigment to surface. A separate exercise on the last day will focus on mark-making.
Each day begins with a demonstration followed by students working on a painting exercise, while receiving plenty of individual help from Barbara. Students may work from their own photos or instructor-provided photos.
Barbara loved drawing and painting as a child, but it was stubborn determination more so than any natural giftedness that launched her artistic journey. Not realizing that a career in fine art could be a possibility, she steered her college studies and initial career choice toward another art-related field, working first in advertising as an art director, then later in corporate marketing communications. In 2002, she was able to turn her focus to a fine art career, pursuing it full steam ahead.
Working in pastel and oil, Barbara strives to capture light-filled landscapes in an impressionist style. Although her finished work is painted primarily in the studio, a regular practice of painting outdoors enables her to create a genuine sense of light in her studio work.
She holds signature memberships in Oil Painters of America (OPA) and American Impressionist Society (AIS), and has earned the distinctions of Master Pastelist in the Pastel Society of America (PSA) and Eminent Pastelist in the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS). Her work has been awarded numerous times by these organizations and many others, and she has been featured in many of the top art publications including Pastel Journal, Plein Air Magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur, Artists Magazine, and Southwest Art, and has served as a contributing writer for some of these publications.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Barbara also lived in Atlanta, Georgia for many years until she yearned for snow and mountains for her landscape subject matter, which prompted her family’s move to Bend, Oregon in 2015.
Barbara is also a popular workshop instructor throughout the US, teaching workshops coast to coast each year. Learn more about Barbara, and her paintings, workshops, and instructional videos, tutorials, and recently-released book at www.barbarajaenicke.com.
Registration opens on November 1st through the PSNM website page. $425 for PSNM members and $455 for non-members. Deposit $150 due when registering. Balance due March 31, 2026.
