Pen, Ink and Watercolor for Beginners

Pen, Ink and Watercolor for Beginners

Class | Available

140 East Main Street Tuckerton, NJ 08087 United States
TBD
All
10/31/2026 (one day)
10:00 AM-2:00 PM EDT on Sat
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$55.00
$50.00

Pen, Ink and Watercolor for Beginners

Class | Available

Join Cheryl Knowles-Harrigan, an art professor at Atlantic Cape Community College, as she guides you  through a class designed to enhance your understanding of pen, ink and watercolor when used in a mixed media painting.  

Discover how the expressive qualities of ink and watercolor can transform a still life into something vivid, dynamic, and full of character. Beginning with foundational mark-making in ink and progressing to broad, confident watercolor strokes, this class explores how these traditional mediums can clarify form or energize a composition.

You’ll experiment with a wide range of ink marks — from delicate lines to bold textures — and then explore several approaches to both naturalistic and imaginative color. Through guided exercises, you’ll learn how thoughtful mark-making and intentional color choices work together to create lively surfaces and rich, compelling hues.

We’ll work with both “ink-first” and “color-first” methods, focusing on how each medium can enhance the other. One of our central goals is learning to let ink and watercolor complement one another, resulting in still life paintings that feel fresh, expressive, and beautifully integrated.


  • ~ Bring a snack  – the workshop goes through the lunch hour but we will take a 15-minute snack break.

  • Paint, Brushes & Pens/Pencils

    ~ Any watercolor paints you have on hand OR an inexpensive watercolor paint set.   (NO neon colors, acrylics, or gouache or heavily “chalked” pigments.)  

    ~ A soft paintbrush for watercolor (medium size 8-10 round) and other watercolor brushes you have on hand.  No need to buy new brushes.

    ~ Mechanical pencil     OR office pencil

    ~ A Micron (Sakura Brand) pen OR ultra-fine tipped Sharpie

    Paper:

    ~ A sketchbook OR sheets of loose, smooth, white paper 8 x 10 or 9 X 12 inches to take notes, thumbnail sketches or trial marks of ink. I suggest a sketchbook so notes are not lost.

    ~ a decent watercolor pad (such as Arches) OR 6-8 scraps of 8x10 to 9x12 watercolor paper (cold press or rough always 140 pounds)

    As an alternative, this pad may serve you for the workshop:

    Canson Artist Series Montval Watercolor Paper, Wirebound Pad, 9x12 inches, 12 Sheets (140lb/300g)

    Here is a link to this product on Amazon Prime    . Please make sure you select the correct size (9x12) and wirebound.

    Miscellaneous

    ~ 3 or 4 colorful fruits, and a few neutral toned natural items such as shells or pinecones..

    ~ White plastic OR soap eraser. (No pink erasers please.)

    The instructor will loan participants dip pens and will supply India ink so they have experience with traditional and modern cartridge pens, and will supply one basic earth tone watercolor.

Cheryl Knowles-Harrigan


Cheryl Knowles-Harrigan was educated at the Philadelphia College of Art (illustration) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (painting, printmaking). Her graduate degree is in Educational Technology from Stockton University of NJ. She is a Full Professor of Art at Atlantic Cape Community College where she teaches drawing, mixed media painting, classical drawing and painting techniques, printmaking, and General Education art courses for non-majors. She has lectured on art history, art appreciation, and led hands- on workshops for teenagers and adults at numerous art and community centers. In 2009 - 2010, she received a Princeton Mid-Career Fellowship that allowed her to study the portrait and conceptual writing and art while authoring an in-depth research paper that was published by Princeton University. She was the 2011 recipient of the Lindback Teaching Excellence Award.

Cheryl is in numerous private collections and has exhibited her work in many solo and group shows in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Her work can be seen at Ocean City Fine Arts League and other shore locations. She is in the permanent print collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Noyes Museum and numerous private collections. She is a resident studio artist/Associate Artist at Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts (Studio 3), and a signature member of StrobeNJ (Visual Artists’ Collective of NJ). Cheryl is a resident of Milmay, NJ where she lives with her husband John, and their rescue dogs Mabel and Cletus Oreo.


You can see more of Cheryl’s work and get updates on workshops and events by visiting Ckharts on Facebook, knowlesharrigan on Instagram, or her Website: ckharts.com.


Artist’s Statement:

No matter the medium, the primary goal of my painting is to clearly communicate to the viewer beyond what is simply seen. When painting realistic subject matter, be it landscape, still life, or figure, I seek to find the nuances of a subject that evoke a sensation of a mood, time, and space. Even though my paintings are usually quiet, I hope they speak volumes to the viewer through their rich detail, light, and color thus capturing not only the likeness of the subject but more importantly its spirit at that moment in time.