Mastering Hair, Beards & Mustaches in Watercolor

Four-Week Intermediate & Advanced Watercolor Workshop

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Take your portrait painting to the next level by learning one of the most challenging—and rewarding—subjects in watercolor: painting realistic hair.

Award-winning watercolor artist Ron Malone will lead this four-session workshop on Tuesdays, August 4 through August 25, 2026, from 1:00–3:00 p.m.

Whether you're painting a windswept beard, soft flowing hair, curly locks, or subtle facial stubble, this class will help you move beyond simply painting "strands of hair" to creating believable hair with depth, texture, light, and character.

Hair is often the feature that makes or breaks a portrait. During this workshop, you'll discover techniques that simplify this complex subject and produce convincing, lifelike results while maintaining the beautiful transparency that makes watercolor unique.

What You'll Learn

Throughout the four sessions, you'll explore how to:

• Paint hair as large masses and shapes rather than individual strands.
• Create the illusion of thousands of hairs with surprisingly few brushstrokes.
• Capture the effects of light, shadow, and reflected color in hair.
• Paint convincing beards, mustaches, eyebrows, eyelashes, and facial stubble.
• Build realistic texture using positive and negative painting techniques.
• Preserve soft edges while adding crisp details where they matter most.
• Layer transparent washes to create depth and richness.
• Mix natural hair colors—from blondes and reds to brunettes, black, gray, and white hair.
• Suggest movement, volume, and direction in every hairstyle.
• Know when to stop before overworking the painting.

Each class begins with a focused demonstration and lesson, followed by an opportunity to paint alongside the instructor or work independently while receiving individual guidance and critiques.

Professional-quality watercolor paper is included with the class. Students should bring their regular watercolor supplies. Please refer to the suggested supply list before the first class.

If you've ever avoided painting portraits because of the challenge of hair—or if you simply want your portraits to look more realistic and expressive—this workshop will give you the confidence and techniques to make hair one of the strongest features in your paintings.