Participants must be paid members of MAA for the year 2025-2026 (unless otherwise specified)
NEW! Two-Day Acrylic Workshop with Vera Kisseleva Fall 2026
“Light, Composition & Expressive Painting”
HURRY, IT’S SURE TO SELLOUT QUICKLY!
This two-day workshop focuses on building strong foundations while maintaining a loose, confident painting style. Participants will explore how to simplify a subject, design an effective composition, and use tonal values to create depth and light in their work.
Through guided exercises and demonstrations, we will learn how to:
- Plan a balanced and engaging composition
- Understand and apply tonal values to create form and atmosphere
- Capture light and mood in a painting
- Work more loosely and avoid overworking details.
Students will complete several short exercises and one finished painting (approximately 12×12 to 16×20 or up to 20×20). Reference photos will be provided for use during the workshop. A materials list will be sent after registration is confirmed. This workshop is suitable for beginner to intermediate painters.
Workshop Structure (what to expect)
Day 1 — Foundations & Practice
Morning
- Introduction and overview
- Demonstration: composition and value simplification
- Exercise 1: small value studies (quick, low-pressure)
Midday
- Exercise 2: composition variations from reference
- Discussion: what makes a strong focal point
Afternoon
- Demonstration: creating light using contrast and edges
- Exercise 3: loose painting study focusing on light
- Individual feedback and guidance
Goal of Day 1: Understand structure before committing to a full painting.
Day 2 — Developing a Finished Painting
Morning
- Review of key concepts (composition, values, light)
- Planning the final piece (sketch + value map on canvas)
Midday
- Begin final painting (12×12 to 16×20 or up to 20×20)
- Ongoing guidance and one-on-one feedback
Afternoon
- Continue and refine painting
- Focus on keeping brushwork loose and intentional
- Final adjustments and group discussion
Goal of Day 2: Apply fundamentals to complete a cohesive painting.
What You Will Gain from this workshop
By the end of the two days, you will:
- Have a clear understanding of how to plan a strong composition
- Be able to use tonal values to create depth, structure, and atmosphere
- Understand how to create the effect of light in your paintings
- Feel more confident working in a looser, more expressive style
- Know how to simplify a subject and focus on what matters most
- Complete one finished painting, along with several smaller studies
- Gain practical tools and approaches you can apply to your future work
Registration Details:
September 17 and 18, 2026
9:30 – 4:30 at Manotick United Church – lower hall
(The church will be open at 9:00 to facilitate set up)
Maximum 15 participants
Open to members of the MAA. Open to non-members after July 10 (if not full at that time)
Cost:
$315.00 – MAA members
$340.00 – Non-members
Please note the new workshop payment policy:
“Payment in full is required at the time of registration. Your spot is not confirmed or held until full payment has been received.”
To Register: email workshops@manotickart.ca
To Pay: Send e-transfer to treasurer@manotickart.ca
The workshop guidelines, supplies list, and instructors reference use policy will be provided following registration.
About the Artist – Vera Kisseleva Biography
Vera Kisseleva is a professional landscape artist, art educator, and the founder of Vera Kiss Art Studio in downtown Fergus. With a Bachelor’s degree in Art Education and more than seven years as a full-time artist, she has built her career around capturing the beauty of nature, light, and atmosphere through vibrant acrylic paintings.
Known for her expressive use of colour and her ability to bring landscapes to life, Vera’s work is inspired by the changing seasons, quiet countryside moments, and the emotional connection we feel with the natural world.
Her paintings have been exhibited in galleries and exhibitions across Ontario and are collected by art lovers who are drawn to their warmth, energy, and sense of place.
Through her workshops and classes for both adults and children, Vera creates a welcoming and encouraging environment where students can grow in confidence, develop strong painting skills, and rediscover the joy of creating. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced painter, her teaching style is designed to make the creative process inspiring, approachable, and deeply rewarding.
Learn more about Vera and her work at www.VeraKissart.com
“Brush It Bold” Painting Workshop with
Sheila Davis SCA OSA SFCA
June 16 – 17 **FULL – Waitlist Only
June 18 – 19 **FULL – Waitlist Only
We are thrilled to announce that the Manotick Art Association is hosting a “Brush It Bold” painting workshop with Sheila Davis June 18 and 19, 2026. Please join Sheila Davis for this fun and engaging two-day workshop.
Sheila explains that her workshop will help you grow as an artist in the following ways:
- Gain the confidence to achieve strong brushwork full of vitality and strength.
- Develop your subject matter using line and shape to influence your next mark and each after that. Learn to lay down colour in one clean, fresh stroke.
- Get your point of interest across without losing spontaneity and freshness.
- Push yourself to think in the abstract while keeping recognizable form and shape.
- Learn to edit and simplify your subject defining composition and values.
- Learn to see colour and value and temperature and push it to its limits or tone it down.
Here are notes from Sheila about how to prepare for her workshop: - The beginner to intermediate painters should work from my image. A digital image will be sent out. More advanced painters should work from their own similar images.
- I work and teach in oil with odourless mineral spirits on cradled birch panels. You will not get the same effects as myself working on canvas or with acrylic, but I will help you along. Acrylics are best used with an extender such as Airbrush Medium. I recommend working in acrylic on canvas.
- I will paint a 36×36 size. We will be working on a minimum size of 24×24. You must get your work home 🙂 If you are a slower painter or a novice, please bring a 30×30. You may not have time to cover a 36×36.
Day 1: - Please arrive in plenty of time to set up prior to workshop. We will start with a brief talk about subject – muse and inspiration and how to see it and bring that forward in your work and the definition of good composition – value, colour and line. I will explain the palette I use and why, the surface I use and why, and the best setup for painting.
- I will paint in stages allowing the class working time between. I will start by demonstrating my approach to lay down colour and movement and begin working up the subject.
Day 2:
We will be finessing values, colour and details and adding those little marks that make a painting sing. I will talk about varnishing, storing, and presenting your work. If time allows, we will do a class critique and/or have a discussion on promotion and social media.
Registration Details: June 18 and 19, 2026 9:30 – 4:30 at Manotick United Church – lower hall (The church will be open at 9:00 to facilitate set up)
Maximum 14 participants
Open to members of the MAA and non-members after April 20 if not full at that time
Cost:
$ 223.00 – MAA Members
$ 258.00 – Non-members To register (if possible please pay upon registration)
To Register: email workshops@manotickart.ca
To Pay: Send e-transfer totreasurer@manotickart.ca
(The workshop supplies list and optional reference photo will be provided following registration).
About the Artist – Sheila Davis Primarily self-taught, Sheila has been a professional artist for over 26 years. Her interest lies in the changing light in obscure areas of the environment as seen in the periphery of daily vision. Sheila works in oil, painting both plein air and in the studio, preferring large panels.
Using dynamic brushstrokes and saturated colour, she captures the friction and play of texture and temperature where surface planes meet, challenging the eye to look deeper, to see beyond the obvious, to become aware of those areas of nature necessary to existence, and to see beauty in the mundane.
Her work has a strong organic feel to it, indicative of the natural landscape she paints. Foremost she is known for the energy she pours into each work to capture the chaotic vibrancy of Mother Earth.
An elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists, the Ontario Society of Artists, and a senior signature member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Sheila’s work has been featured in magazines, on television and is included in private and corporate collections around the world. She is represented by various galleries throughout Canada and she participates in select exhibitions throughout the year.
Learn more about Sheila and her work at: