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FALL CLASSES in BERRYVILLE. Coming in October and November in Berryville Parks and Rec. at 225 Al Circle, Berryville, VA, in Chet Hobert Park, across from the Fairgrounds. This building has a step-free entrance. There is a sink in the classroom for easy water handling, a restroom right next to the class. Paved and plowed parking. Kitchen in class for snacks.
FALL CLASSES in BERRYVILLE. Coming in October and November in Berryville Parks and Rec. at 225 Al Circle, Berryville, VA, in Chet Hobert Park, across from the Fairgrounds. This building has a step-free entrance. There is a sink in the classroom for easy water handling, a restroom right next to the class. Paved and plowed parking. Kitchen in class for snacks.
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN The main url for Clarke County Parks and Rec is https://clarke.recdesk.com/Community/Program. The email address is ccpr@clarkecounty.gov and their phone number is (540) 955-5140. They might be able to register you over the phone, or help walk you through it. The first step is to create an account, then after that you will be able to sign up for the classes.
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN The main url for Clarke County Parks and Rec is https://clarke.recdesk.com/Community/Program. The email address is ccpr@clarkecounty.gov and their phone number is (540) 955-5140. They might be able to register you over the phone, or help walk you through it. The first step is to create an account, then after that you will be able to sign up for the classes.
Berryville classes
Berryville classes
Two classes per month, alternating Mondays 12:30-3:30 pm, Fall 2026. New but similar topics, building on the four gentlemen theme. Open to beginners and yet still engaging for continuing learners. Only one class per day, every two weeks. These appear on my calendar if you wish to mark the date. Registration is now open on the Clarke County Parks and Rec website. The address is 225 Al Smith Circle, Berryville, VA, 22611.
These classes are $35 each, and the I'm new Kit (to Own) is still $15. You will also have the option to rent the I'm New Kit for $5.00 and the Featured Brush rental for another $5 (for brushes not in the I'm New Kit). The Featured Brush list is constantly changing while I am developing and painting the motifs, but will not change once the photo is posted in Facebook.
Are you driving from far away? You can arrive as early as 12:00 to set up or even eat your lunch while I set up. There is a microwave and sink but the cabinets and drawers are empty.
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN - only 10 seats available per class. Please register with them, as I can't take them myself, as CCPR first takes a portion for themselves. CCPR has a minimum of four participants to hold a class. Registration needs to be made not later than one week before the class. Please see my Facebook page for class images as they are posted.
Japanese Iris Class
October 5 - Japanese (Blue Flag) Iris with your choice of a bumble bee or a dragonfly. This class's featured new brush is the Hummingbird brush. If you have a large orchid bamboo brush, I can show you how to paint it with that too, but the Hummingbird does this better. This is not one of the four Gentlemen, although it has similarities to the grass orchid. You will have the choice of square or the larger 13x19 paper (which I used) for this motif. For the fall series, all the papers for classes 1-4 will be the size of the larger Big Bam folder. This class is full. Please apply for the waitlist or sign up for other classes.
Winter - Snowy Jade Green Bamboo
October 19 - Winter jade-green Bamboo with snow featuring Blossom white (Chinese White and gouache blend) and silver ink - The featured brush is the Small Orchid Bamboo. I found that I didn't need the large orchid bamboo and that the medium orchid bamboo brush is large enough for trunks since this bamboo is farther away. We will use colored Yunlong landscape half-ripe paper for this class so that the snow and silver ink show up better. You have your choice of this dark gray or a lighter gray for your paper. It's a pleasure to use and is a handmade, premium paper.
Purple Chrysanthemum with Painted Lady Butterfly
November 2 - Purple Spider Chrysanthemum and Painted Lady Butterfly - Long Flowing goat, Hummingbird brush - This is an open-center style mum with spoon-shaped tips due to tubular petals. The Hummingbird brush will do the mum this time, and give it a new look, and it is the featured brush. The Long Flowing Goat is also featured for the stems and the butterfly. Your medium orchid bamboo makes the bamboo cane fence. A beautiful half-sized mulberry landscape paper with natural fibers is used. It's fun to use.
Apple Blossom and Rose-breasted Grosbeak
November 16 - Apple Blossom branch and Rose-breasted Grosbeak (bird), thickened tan half-ripe xuan paper, which is very nice to use, or your choice of available papers if you wish a more textured look for your background. The featured brush is simply the Bee and Blossom, which painted blossoms, buds, leaves, and the branches, and the bird. Other than that, only the free hook and line brush was used, including its plastic dotting end. The blossoms are adorned with white ink and gold ink for the filaments and pollen. There is also a touch of gold ink on the bird. The bird is easy - we slide a pattern under the paper, Gongbi style, of a real bird from Warrenton, VA.
The Grosbeak is a bird that appears in the Spring with a large creamy beak. I've seen images of it with crabapples. You won't see one at your feeder right now, as they have gone south already.
Seals class
Event not yet created in Facebook.
November 30 - Chinese Signature Calligraphy and Seals (Please provide your preferred first name in advance for your custom calligraphy guide). This guide will help you pronounce your name and teach you how to write it. You will also get help getting started on creating your custom artistic name. (If you already know your Chinese artistic name you can submit it if you prefer.) You'll also learn about seals and seal paste. Please note; this is Monday, just a few days after Thanksgiving.
December 5, 2026 (A Saturday) Free demo at Shenandoah Farms Community Center, 6401 Howellsville Road, Front Royal (it's actually in Clarke County) from 10 am to 2 pm.
Event created in Facebook.
I will be painting poinsettas on cold press watercolor greeting cards live. Chinese art supplies and some of my paintings will be available. This is a small arts and crafts/artisan fair/holiday market. Some of my art is on display now at the Blandy Sketch Group Show in Millwood at the Arboretum in the Dining Room. These are found in my shop under Art for Sale.
Classes Finished this summer at Blandy
These classes were alot of fun and work - really alot in one day - two classes per day. I will only be offering one class per day in future.
FINISHED June 6 – Grass Orchid (Spring Gentleman)
Morning: Get all set up with your supplies. Learn how to make different shades of ink, and control ink on raw xuan. Practice the strokes for the leaves and the flowers, then complete the graceful, feminine Grass Orchid motif in ink, then in color on semi-raw xuan. (color version shown on raw xuan).
FiNISHED June 6 Afternoon: Spring Sisters
FiNISHED June 6 Afternoon: Spring Sisters
Local sister flowers to the grass orchid, painted with the same two brushes as the morning class.
Blandy’s Chinese Ground Orchid (Hyacinth Orchid), a more complex version of the grass orchid.
The stunning Yellow Trout Lily, based on photos by local hikers.
Ephemeral Spring Beauty (Claytonia) shown here on semi-sized bamboo xuan. This painting is based on a photo by my hiker and artist friend Barb Tanner who also paints and sketches with me.
This course is paid in person on the day of event and is only available to those who took the morning class.
I regret that we could not get to Spring Beauty this class and hope to offer it next year.
Finished: July 11 – Bamboo (Summer Gentleman) - morning class - inks - Completed!
Morning: ink class: Paint timeless bamboo leaves, nodes, branches, and trunks in black ink. We get creative with magical black‑and‑gold ink to portray dappled light and values.
Bonus insect: firefly and mayfly
Finished: July 11 – Bamboo (Summer Gentleman) - afternoon class - color
Completed! Thanks for attending!
Afternoon class: Summer gamboge green bamboo with vermilion, and iridescent gold ink.
Bonus insect: Katydid
August 8 – Chrysanthemum (Fall Gentleman)
Finished!
Morning: Color: We'll paint a showy, curled bicolor Chinese chrysanthemum in soft orange, buds, and with veined leaves in color.
The morning or afternoon class taken by itself is $35. The afternoon and the morning together is $55.
August 8 – Chrysanthemum (Fall Gentleman)
Finished!
Afternoon add‑on: Color: Meadow composition of asters: coneflower, woodland purple aster, and Monarch butterfly. Plus other asters and meadow flowers!
The morning or afternoon class taken by itself is $35. The afternoon and the morning together is $55.
September 12 – Plum Blossom (Winter Gentleman) - cancelled due to low enrollment,
Postponed until Spring, when the plum actually blooms
Plum blossom branch: A classic combination of ink branches and outlined blossoms, as well as pink and white blossoms and fun dots and pistils. Bring your ink whale if you have one or one dish for the wash, another for a colored trunk wash, and another for pure ink. We are using thin xuan for this class so that we get the beautiful blooms for the branch and soft flowers. The new brushes demoed for this class are the Hummingbird brush (now a $21 value), a super fun brush, and the Bee and Blossom Brush. Please bring all the brushes you have so far. You will probably see me use alot of them. My favorite for the trunk was the large orchid bamboo brush, but the medium bam will be okay.
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