Salt Spring Island Painters Guild

10/09/2026

Introduction to Oil Painting (2 Days)

Date: October 14 & 21, 2026
Time: 9:30 – 3:30
Instructor: Betty Rideout
Location: SIMS
Levels: Open to All
Medium: Oil
Price: $120 for the 2 days

Learn the secrets of oil painting in this hands-on, two-day workshop. This workshop is intended for beginners, but more experienced artists are certainly welcome. We will start with the fundamentals of brushes, mediums, canvas types, paint and palette choices along with basic rules for painting in oils. We’ll discuss the “alla prima” method – wet on wet approach, which is naturally suited to slow drying oil paint. Since hands-on practice is the best way to consolidate learning, we’ll spend the rest of our time together painting ‘Overlooking Trincomali’, with individual guidance and step-by-step instructions.

Because this workshop is designed primarily for beginners, we will provide the image, paints, mediums, and palette and transfer paper. You will be responsible for supplying an 18 x 24 inch canvas, brushes, and an easel.

Visit our website for more information and to register.

https://www.ssipaintersguild.com/classes

09/26/2026

A landscape can be painted as we see it - trees can look like trees, rocks like rocks and light and space can be carefully observed. But what happens when we begin to let go of description?

Beyond the View, Abstracting the Landscape with Susan Rogers

Date: Oct 7, 2026
All Levels/ Acrylic
SIMS

More information at https://www.ssipaintersguild.com/classes

08/08/2026

Photos from one of our summer plein air sessions. How fun! ☀️

https://www.ssipaintersguild.com/classes

07/09/2026

05/18/2026

One more day to check out the Guild Show at Mahon Hall. Take a May Long Weekend wander before 4:30pm on Monday!

05/14/2026

Every 6 months the Painters Guild members hang a Refresh of artwork at Lady Minto Hospital. Enjoy a wander through the halls to see the latest installation!

04/13/2026

Spring Growth in Winter: A Mixed Media Workshop

Date: April 18, 2026
Time: 10:00-4:00
Instructor: Susanne Rutchinski
Location: SIMS
Levels: Open to all
Medium: Mixed media (water based)

In this workshop, I will share my process for creating wild flower scenes using all water based media. Starting with a textured substrate, together, we’ll work with inks, washes, rice paper and acrylics to create expressive art pieces.

We’ll begin by making marks and prints on delicate rice paper, which you can incorporate into your final piece. You’re encouraged to bring bits of nature—leaves, grasses, feathers, block stamps—anything that inspires you—to print from and add personal touches.

Throughout the day, I’ll share techniques for color mixing, layering, and composition, helping you discover new ways to bring depth and harmony to your work.

By the end of the workshop, you’ll have a unique, mixed-media piece that you love—a reflection of your own creative process and connection to nature. Plus a few new tricks and ideas to keep you inspired.

More info: https://www.ssipaintersguild.com/classes

04/03/2026

Painting Beautiful Florals

Date: April 8, 2026
Time: 10:00-4:00
Instructor: Betty Rideout
Location: SIMS
Levels: All
Medium: Oil or blendable acrylics
Max Participants: 14
Price: $55

As we all know, Salt Spring island is filled with creative people. Many of those love both to garden and to paint. This workshop will help to combine these two pleasant obsessions.

In this workshop you will learn how to paint lovely, luminescent flowers filled with light. Painting translucent objects, such as petals, is more difficult to achieve than painting opaque objects. As a result, it’s challenging to paint florals that accurately represent their delicate nature. This workshop will provide techniques about how to paint in a way that represents the fragility of a flower. Working with your own image, we will work step-by-step through to, hopefully, a completed painting. I’ll demonstrate modelling using the classical approach of chiaroscuro (light-dark) which creates a dramatic setting. We’ll then begin painting by starting with warm shadows and elaborating from there. We’ll also be working using the alla prima, or wet-on-wet, approach, which makes blending easy and gives us control over where we want hard edges. Most flowers have only a few hard edges. I’ll circulate to offer guidance, suggestions, and admiration as flowers begin to bloom via paint!