Watercolor Appetizers

New Paltz artist and Illustrator Doug Hansen is offering three watercolor classes for creative adults.

Titled “Watercolor Appetizers” the sessions are aimed at beginners; at those who have always wanted to give watercolor a try; and at artists who haven’t used their watercolors for a while.

Each session can stand alone as a fun artistic experience but the artist hopes those who participate will want to attend all three:

2/25/26 A Little House by a Lake. Practice some of the techniques that make watercolor special and put them together to make a simple scene. From your imagination.

3/4/26 Colorful Creatures. We’ll use animal pictures for inspiration and use a simple illustrative approach to enjoy the beauty of all those colors.

3/11/26 Rusty Metal and Shiny Glass. Still life painting focusing on textures. Bring something rusty and something of colored glass as a subject.

We will work at tables inside the Roost Arts gallery space in the two-story brick Marion Pine Center for the Arts. There will be a break.

Participants must bring their own art supplies. The list of materials and more info about the class will be ready upon registration. We look forward to a creative time together!

Ample parking behind the building. Limited to 12 seats.

$15 per session ($10 for Roost Members) Learn more about membership

Doug Hansen 

Doug’s artistic career has mostly involved illustration, beginning with over twenty years as a newspaper artist/illustrator at The Fresno Bee in California’s Central San Joaquin Valley. Doug created art using both traditional and digital mediums. A significant collaboration with Valley peach grower and respected author David ‘Mas” Masumoto was established when Doug created watercolor illustrations for Masumoto’s monthly Sunday pages in the Bee. Over the years, those stories and artworks were collected and re-published in book format as well. 

Doug left the Bee to teach for twenty years as a professor of illustration at California State University, Fresno. The highlight of those years were the three California-centric children’s books published by Heyday that Doug wrote and illustrated. The second book, “Aesop in California" featured Doug’s watercolor illustrations and the other two, “Mother Goose in California” and “California, the Magic Island” were done in gouache.

 Doug and his wife, artist Susan Hansen, now live in New Paltz after a lifetime together in California. Doug and Susan are members of Roost Arts. Doug’s current paintings and drawings reflect his interest in the local landscape and history.