Dale L Popovich IWS watercolors and art teacher blog

A Northwoods Watercolor Experience with Master Artist Dale L Popovich IWS — The Perfect Holiday Gift

11/24/2025

By Marilee Jacobi-Popovich

A Gift That Carries the Voice of the Northwoods and the Skill of a Master Through the Prestige's Palette & Chisel, Chicago

Dale L Popovich IWS teaches students to paint the Great Northwoods with confidence, clarity, and the warmth of expert guidance—all from the comfort of your own studio.

Some gifts are unwrapped. Others are experienced. This holiday season, give someone a moment of quiet wonder--a Palette & Chisel Zoom watercolor class where they’ll learn through painting the Great Northwoods, those timeless forests where light drifts between pines and silence feels like its own kind of music. It’s the gift of creativity wrapped in the calm of winter woods, a soothing invitation to slow down and rediscover what inspiration feels like.

While the world is full of things we don’t need, this is something different. This is the soft hush of snowfall. The deep greens and blues of northern lakes. The feeling of stepping into a landscape that asks nothing more than your presence. Participants will paint scenes from the Great Northwoods as if they were standing right there, breathing in cedar-scented air and watching the sun slip low across still water. Guided by a seasoned instructor, they’ll learn professional watercolor techniques while capturing the spirit of a place that feels both wild and familiar.

No travel required. No rushing. Just the comfort of home paired with the magic of a northern landscape. It’s simple to gift and unforgettable to receive—a holiday present that lingers long after the season ends, like the echo of wind through the pines. Give someone a chance to touch the Northwoods with their brush and find a bit of peace along the way.

In this Palette & Chisel online Zoom class, students learn to implement key concepts and watercolor painting techniques that open the door to a deeper understanding of the medium. Dale blends one-on-one guidance with strong foundational instruction in drawing, value relationships, color interpretation, composition, watercolor techniques, and the use of professional art materials. Every lesson builds confidence, clarity, and artistic intuition.

To support every session, students receive:

🌅 A beautifully assembled reference packet each week, beginning with a personalized photo. Chosen specifically for the painting.
✏️ A ready-to-copy pencil sketch. Makes it easy to dive in without hesitation. Dale shares the exact paints, paper, and value photo
🎨 He’ll be using, ensuring students can follow along with ease and accuracy. Each session is recorded and made available forever on YouTube, giving artists lifetime access to every demo and explanation they experience in class. Every packet also includes thoughtful, step-by-step techniques
📋 That guides students through each stage of the paint-along, transforming the process into something intuitive, enjoyable, and deeply fulfilling.

After each class, students receive a complete start-to-finish PDF containing the painting steps, final demo, step-by-step photos, and the link to the full recording. It becomes a personal workbook they can return to whenever the need for refreshment, inspiration, or a quiet creative break calls to them.
As students absorb these principles through painting the Great Northwoods, they gain greater command of the medium and a deeper connection to the creative process of transparent watercolor. Each week begins with a lecture and demonstration, followed by gentle, guided instruction through every phase of the painting until it is complete.

All levels are welcome, whether brand-new or experienced.
Class #937 - How to Paint in Watercolor with Dale Popovich
Session | Available
Date:  1/8/2026-2/5/2026
Time:  10:30 AM-1:00 PM CST on Th
iCalendar:   Download iCalendar
Tuition $225.00

1012 N. Dearborn StreetChicago, IL 60610
Office Hours:
Mon-Fri, 11:00am – 6:30pm
Phone: 312 642 4400 Email: [email protected]
Web: paletteandchisel.org

In Conclusion
And when the class ends, something subtle but powerful remains. It’s the feeling of having walked—if only for a few hours—through a quieter world. A world where the scent of pine hangs in the air, where snow softens sound, and where color unfolds like memory across the horizon. Painting the Northwoods with Dale becomes more than a class; it becomes a form of forest bathing for the spirit. A gentle reset. A reminder that beauty still whispers in the world, waiting for us to pause long enough to see it. This season, give someone that whisper. Please give them the Northwoods.

0 Comments

THANK YOU ANNAPOLIS WATERCOLOR CLUB

11/15/2024

0 Comments

This past Wednesday, November 13th, I had the joy of leading a Fall demo for the Annapolis Watercolor Club, and let me tell you, it was such a meaningful experience. They’re celebrating their Golden Anniversary this coming year, and their request for a painting filled with autumn golds couldn’t have been more fitting. There’s something so inspiring about blending the season’s richness with the significance of their milestone.

I sent them a reference packet in addvance so if the members could paint along with me. This includes:

A reference photo from my personal library
Photo description
The pencil sketch on 300 lb. Inigo Watercolor paper
Qor watercolor paints used in this painting
What you will learn
What you will walk away

I’m delighted to announce that I have been invited back to host an engaging two-day Zoom workshop for their members this coming January 2025. This will be my second time working with this incredible group, and I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to reconnect and collaborate on something extraordinary.

I’m also pleased to share that this workshop will be open to my wonderful patrons, making it an excellent chance for all of us to come together. I’m busy fine-tuning all the details to ensure an enriching experience for everyone involved. Be sure to check back in a few weeks for updates, as I’ll share more information soon.

I can hardly wait to gather again, this time from the cozy comfort of our individual spaces, as we immerse ourselves in the beauty of art and cultivate a strong sense of community.

0 Comments

Chesterton Art Center 2021 2-Zoom Day Workshop

3/19/2021

0 Comments

Painting Water Reflections and Nature in Watercolor

Dale L. Popovich IWS will be offering a two-day Beginning/Intermediate Watercolor Workshop on Saturday, April 24th and Saturday, May 8th from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. In this Zoom workshop students will walk away with a better understanding of transparent watercolor. He will be teaching his personal step-by-step process of how to start and finish a watercolor. Dale will concentrate on reflections of water. Students will acquire an understanding of how reflections of the shorelines reflect into the water, and how to interpret them. He will also give participants an understanding of the values, temperatures, intensities, and hues, and how they react as a reflection.

A better understanding of how to cross mixed colors that best capture the reflections in the water will be demonstrated. In this process, he will illustrate how to block-in and build a painting properly. Students will experience various applications of watercolor, color palette, properties of watercolor, tools, and techniques. Dale’s objective through the step-by-step instruction will show how to avoid watercolor problems and grow as a painter.

You will be painting this image – water reflections and nature in watercolor – this is from Dale's personal library

Workshop #1, April 24th,
Dale will conduct a 2.5-hour painting workshop on Zoom stopping between steps and answering questions along the way. During the painting process, photos will be taken of each step. The photos will be added to the original packet creating the Popovich’s Start-to-Finish packet.

Workshop #2, May 8th,
Dale will lead a Zoom Group Critique sharing his screen with students. During this time, he will walk artists through two paintings and answer any additional questions.

Tuition is $115 for members and $135 for non-members. Supplies are not included in this workshop. After payment is received, a supply list will be provided. In addition, a full reference packet will be sent prior to the workshop which will also include the Zoom links.

Students must register and pay before the first class. To register stop in, call, or visit the website at www.chestertonart.org or Eventbrite.com (search Chesterton Art Center).

For questions, please call the Chesterton Art Center at 219-926-4711. The Chesterton Art Center is located at 115 S. 4th St., Chesterton, IN 46304.
For a list of all classes being offered at the Art Center, please see the website www.chestertonart.org.

0 Comments

A Northwoods Watercolor Experience with Master Artist Dale L Popovich IWS — The Perfect Holiday Gift

THANK YOU ANNAPOLIS WATERCOLOR CLUB

Chesterton Art Center 2021 2-Zoom Day Workshop