About us
Glad you found us! Portland Art Guild is a supportive, inclusive group of art enthusiasts of all art skill levels. We're about creating community, improving our art skills, and providing low cost art classes to the public so learning about art is accessible to all. We host social/art events and aim to provide display opportunities.
We rent a wonderful, large space for Mondays, so that's usually when we hold in-person classes, although occasionally this may vary. Our online classes are generally on Thursday evenings, although this may vary. We always have many more people in our classes than it shows on Meetup, by the way.
We're a nonprofit run by volunteers, and you can join us and be part of our volunteer team. Information about joining the Guild is on our website. You can still take our classes without becoming a PAG member. Official sign-up for our classes is on our website: **https://portlandartguild.org/**
Benefits of Guild Membership include:
-Substantial discount on our art classes.
-Opportunities to exhibit/market your work and enter our in-house competitions.
-Attend informative Membership Meetings followed by free art technique demos.
-Make new friends!
-Volunteer and be part of a team
To sign up for membership or for more information see our website.
**https://portlandartguild.org/**
Upcoming events
5
BRANCHING OUT: SIMPLIFYING TREES IN PLEIN AIR
Portland Art Guild, 3201 NE 148th Ave, Portland, OR, USPLEASE NOTE: Official signup is through our website: Portland Art Guild
$25/PAG members and $50/Nonmembers
10 am – 2 pm on Saturday, June 18 2026
Join us as we paint outdoors and enjoy the beauty of nature! The focus will be on techniques for painting trees, including simplifying the big shapes and noisy details, how to use temperature shifts and value ranges to make your paintings sing, and how to use a combination of hard and soft edges to help strengthen your painting.
The session will begin with a demo, followed by ample time for you to paint, during which you will get personalized input from the instructor. Demos will be done in oil paints, but you may use any paints of your choice during the day of plein air painting in the park.Find your supply list here.
1 attendee
PAINTING WATERCOLOR LANDSCAPES
Portland Art Guild, 3201 NE 148th Ave, Portland, OR, USPLEASE NOTE: Official signup is through our website: Portland Art Guild
$50/Members or $100/Nonmembers
10 am – 2 pm on Monday, August 3rd and August 10th, 2026The secret to painting a compelling landscape lies in the balance between strong composition
and convincing natural elements. We will focus on the essential anatomy of a landscape —
painting skies, mountains, trees, and rocks. The instructor will provide handouts and guide
you through exercises designed to strengthen your skills. You will learn to use atmospheric
perspective to pull the viewer into your scene, using techniques that include wet-into-wet and
glazing.Find your supply list here.
1 attendeePAINTING WATERCOLOR LANDSCAPES
Portland Art Guild, 3201 NE 148th Ave, Portland, OR, USPLEASE NOTE: Official signup is through our website: Portland Art Guild
$50/Members or $100/Nonmembers
10 am – 2 pm on Monday, August 3rd and August 10th, 2026The secret to painting a compelling landscape lies in the balance between strong composition
and convincing natural elements. We will focus on the essential anatomy of a landscape —
painting skies, mountains, trees, and rocks. The instructor will provide handouts and guide
you through exercises designed to strengthen your skills. You will learn to use atmospheric
perspective to pull the viewer into your scene, using techniques that include wet-into-wet and
glazing.Find your supply list here.
1 attendee
Geeking Out on Watercolors and Botanical Illustration
Portland Art Guild, 3201 NE 148th Ave, Portland, OR, USPLEASE NOTE: Official signup is through our website: Portland Art Guild
$50/PAG members and $100/Nonmembers
10 am – 2 pm on August 24th and 31stIllustrating botanical subject matter in watercolor is a time-honored tradition, with its ancient roots (pardon the pun) in illustrating plants to document and explain their medical properties. Fast forward to the Renaissance era, and we see the tradition expand beyond medicinal illustrations to include documenting flora (and fauna) as part of scientific inquiry. During the age of exploration it was used to illustrate what was found in far-flung parts of the globe. And it has never gone away – people are as fascinated today by stunning, detailed, well-rendered botanical subject matter. Indeed, it continues to have commercial value as there are aspects for which illustration is still a better means to document the natural world than photography.
Unlike some watercolor techniques that rely on quickness, many botanical artists work very slowly, relying on skills such as observation, knowledge of rendering 3D form through color theory and shading, taking advantage of the characteristics of watercolors, and working through composition challenges, to create stunningly realistic plant portraits. This workshop will introduce all of these technical elements and share what I’ve learned over the years about how to apply them.
Find your supply list here.
1 attendee
Past events
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