Vadnais Heights MN
2025-09-16 10:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago) | Birchwood Village Hall, Birchwood Village Hall
Area: Vadnais Heights MN
Event: Painting Group
Location: Birchwood Village Hall
Host: Leona – 612-859-7075
Fee: $20/member/year
Occurring: Mondays
Notes: Contact Leona with questions at 612-859-7075

Paint Outs
2025-09-17 09:00 - 12:00 | Como Zoo, 1225 Estabrook Drive, St. Paul, 55103, United States
Join us at Como Zoo.
These Plein Air outings are sponsored by NorthStar Watermedia Society, and are open to ALL Painters, including non-members. Lunch arrangements are up to the individuals, or we often find a restaurant with the group. We gather between 9-10 AM, but you can join us at any time during the morning. If you have any questions, please contact one of the following individuals: Ann Sisel at 612-275-0774 or Leona Olson at cell 612-859-7075. The committee members will be at most of these outings.

Hudson WI
2025-09-18 10:00 - 12:00 | Phipps Center for the Arts, Phipps Center for the Arts
Area: Hudson WI
Event: Painting Group
Location: Phipps Center For the Arts
Host: TBD
Fee: Donation
Occurring: Thursdays
Notes: Thursday morning painters.

Rochester MN
2025-09-18 13:00 - 15:00 | Mount Olive Lutheran Church, 2830 18th Ave NW, Rochester, MN, 55901, United States
Area: Rochester MN
Event: Painting Group
Location: Mount Olive Lutheran Church
Host: TBD
Fee: Free
Occurring: Thursdays

NSWS 50th Anniversary Party
2025-09-18 17:00 - 20:00 | Guidant John Rose Minnesota Oval, 2661 Civic Center Dr, Roseville, MN, 55113, United States
Hello, Friends!
🎉 You’re Invited! 🎉
Join us in celebrating 50 years of creativity, community, and watermedia wonder at the NorthStar Watermedia Society’s 50th Anniversary Party!
Come reconnect with friends, meet fellow artists, and toast to five decades of artistic inspiration.
We’d love to see you there — let’s honor our past and look forward to a vibrant future together!
RSVP by August 18th, 2025 – Register HERE
✨ NorthStar Watermedia Society – 50 years strong and still shining!

Rosemount MN
2025-09-19 10:00 - 12:00 | Dakota Valley Learning Center, 4679 144th St W, Apple Valley, 55124, United States
Area: Rosemount MN
Event: South Metro Painting Group
Location: Dakota Valley Learning Center
Host: Alyssa Whetstone (NSWS Member)
Fee: $40/year
Occurring: Every Friday
Registration: Register Now

In-Person Demo with David Smith
2025-10-23 17:30 - 20:30 | Guidant John Rose Minnesota Oval, 2661 Civic Center Dr, Roseville, MN, 55113, United States
In-person monthly meeting: Thursday, October 23, 2025. Time: 5:15-6:15 pm – paint-in, 6:15-6:45 pm – listening session with Paul Oman, and demo painting with David Smith – 7-8:30. This will also be live-streamed on the NSWS YouTube Channel:
David Smith is well known locally and nationally in the watercolor artist community for his plein aire and his studio paintings. A skilled instructor, he has taken several groups to Europe for wonderful food and beautiful locations to paint and learn.
David’s paintings have been accepted into the American Transparent Watercolor Society.
David will demo painting a snow scene to inspire us to capture the beauty of a pristine snowfall.
https://www.youtube.com/@northstarwatermedia2505/streams

Caricatures with Patty Schmid - Interactive Demo
2025-11-20 13:00 - 15:00 | St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 1807 Field Ave, St. Paul, MN, 55116, United States
Join NorthStar for a fun, interactive demo creating caricatures with artist, Patty Schmid!

Patty has been focused on portraits for the past few years, and really enjoys painting faces. She’s found that her perfectionism would get her stuck several times on each painting. This year, she challenged herself to learn to draw caricatures. They allowed her to fall back in love with drawing and helped her to find relief from a somber mood surrounding a difficult family situation. It’s fun!

In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn some basics about how to create your drawing, starting with pencil and then inking it. Then we’ll color our drawings with watercolor. Materials needed: pencil, eraser, Mixed media paper, watercolors, your favorite brush, and an indelible black marker (Sharpie marker will work, but she used a Sakura Pigma brush pen MB). If you have a favorite celebrity that you’d like to caricature, bring a photo or have it ready on your phone or tablet. You can use that, or it may be easier to draw and paint along with me. She will have some reference photocopies for you of the celebrity she will be demonstrating.

Holiday Cards With Alyssa Whetstone - Interactive Zoom Event
2025-12-18 19:00 - 21:00
Join our very own, Alyssa Whetstone, for a warm, fun-filled evening of making holiday cards! Alyssa will demonstrate how to create holiday-themed cards using watercolor and pen. This event will be live on Zoom on December 18th at 7pm. Watch for a link in your email for this event. Grab your paint and brushes, a pen (the uniball gel pens work very well for this project), warm socks, a cup of hot cocoa (don’t dip your brush in this though, ha!), and join us for a relaxing evening of painting at home.

Zoom Demo
2026-01-15 19:00 - 20:00
January 15th, 2026: Zoom Demo on portraits by Pam Wenger – 7 pm

Live Demo with Pam Wenger - Zoom
2026-01-15 19:00 - 20:30
Join us via Zoom for a live demo with watercolorist, Pam Wenger!
Pam is a retired teacher who has always been drawn to portraits and figurative work. She has worked with local instructors and watercolor artists, Ted Nuttall and Charles Reid. Pam counts many amazing artists among her friends. They keep her constantly inspired and challenged to grow in her craft.
Pam’s portrait paintings are her real love. She tries to connect with a person through their expression…their pose…their placement in the composition. Her work has been exhibited and won awards in National and Local shows, including the American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, Pennsylvania’s “Art of the State”, Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, Splash Magazine, Artist’s Magazine, Watercolor Artist Magazine, and the Baltimore Watercolor Society’s Mid Atlantic Shows. Her art can be viewed at www.pamwenger.com , https://www.facebook.com/pamwengerwatercolor/, and on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pwenger32

Zoom Demo
2026-02-19 19:00 - 20:00
February 19th, 2026: Zoom Demo by Randy Hale – 7 pm

Live Demo with Randy Hale - Zoom
2026-02-19 19:00 - 20:30
Join NorthStar for a live painting demo with watercolorist Randy Hale on Zoom!
Randy Hale is a professional painter, juror, and workshop instructor. While he’s always been an avid artist, Randy’s professional training as an industrial designer began at California’s Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He credits his success in the art world to a lengthy career in design, sales, and project management. Whether working with clients or fellow artists, Randy has consistently demonstrated a comfort level in expressing ideas and explaining concepts in a way that makes them easy to understand.
Over a decade ago, Randy formed Painted Palette Tours and began taking groups of painters to exciting locations. His destination workshop trips have become quite popular. He thoroughly researches and scouts painting locations, works out logistics well ahead of time to ensure his groups always have fun and don’t have to “sweat the details!” His planned painting adventures and workshops sell out quickly, and his painters get great and constant instruction. His monthly newsletters give his readers advance notice of all upcoming events, and you can subscribe by going to his website: halegallery.com. It’s free!

"Awakenings" - National Juried Exhibition, Entries Open
2026-03-01 00:00 - 2026-03-22 00:00
Awakening, the NorthStar Watermedia Society Spring 2026 Online Juried Exhibition, opens for entries on CaFE Call For Entry: March 1, 2026.

Join NSWS for an Interactive Demo with Tammy Nara
2026-03-19 13:00 - 15:00 | St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 1807 Field Ave, St. Paul, MN, 55116, United States
Tammy Nara is a hiking artist and art teacher based in Shoreview, Minnesota. She enjoys using pen, watercolor, and acrylic to create responses to the natural world. “Experiencing and protecting the natural world is important. Creating art and connecting with other humans also enriches our lives in important ways. Let’s make time for what is important.” She started the website paintandhike.com in 2018. It is where she shares information about both art and hiking trails. Her education includes a master’s degree in art education from the University of Minnesota. She is currently one of 4 art
teachers at Irondale High School. Her art can be seen at Studio 321 in the Northrup King Building in Minneapolis. Join NSWS and Tammy Nara to learn the art of blind contour drawing on March 19th, 2026!

Join the NSWS For An In-Person Demo With Deb Zeller
2026-04-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Guidant John Rose Minnesota Oval, 2661 Civic Center Dr, Roseville, MN, 55113, United States
Deb Zeller began her art career at age thirteen, when she received a set of oil paints for her birthday. Over the decades she has developed her skills in drawing, painting, glass fusion, encaustic (beeswax) painting, photography and bronze sculpture. It wasn’t until a painting trip to Cuba with Eric Rhodes of Plein Air Magazine in March of 2018 that Deb became serious about watercolor. Oil paints seemed way too cumbersome to carry all that way. She practiced weekly with watercolors in her studio with the Minnesota Figure Study Collaborative, but had never taken a lesson in watercolor painting. A short overview of the watercolor and charcoal portraits she created in Cuba can be seen on her website.

After Cuba, Deb’s love for watercolor really developed and she joined the Minnesota Watercolor Society. That led to numerous watercolor classes from both local and national artists. Watermedia has become Deb’s absolute favorite media, although she still plays with all the rest. She has Signature Status in both the Minnesota Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society.
You can check out all her work and the Minnesota Figure Study Collaborative on her website: zellerstudio.com

"Awakening" Notification of Acceptance
2026-04-19 00:00 - 23:30
“Awakening” – notification of acceptance into the NSWS spring national juried online exhibition.

"Awakening" Opens On NSWS Website
2026-05-03 08:00 - 17:00
Awakening, the NorthStar Watermedia Society Spring 2026 Online Juried Exhibition, opens and is posted on the NorthStar Watermedia Society website for viewing.

"Awakening" Award Ceremony
2026-05-07 19:00 - 20:00
Join the NorthStar Watermedia Society and juror, David R. Becker, on Thursday, May 7th at 7 pm on Zoom as David awards the top paintings in the NSWS spring national online juried exhibition, Awakening.
