How To Take A Free Watercolor Workshop At Oklahoma’s Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

When you visit the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, you expect to see hikers, mountain bikers, family picnics, and campers. But you'll also see an occasional photographer or watercolorist, like local artist Katherine Liontas-Warren, who regularly hosts watercolor workshops in partnership with the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge began offering the free watercolor workshops with Liontas-Warren a few years ago, and since then, the classes have been hard to get into. Spaces are limited, and the classes typically fill up as soon as the sign up form goes live. But luckily, I was scrolling on Facebook at the right time in late April and was able to quickly sign up for the refuge's May Wildflowers in Watercolor Workshop.

The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge hosted a wildflower walk and watercolor calls in tandem.

I've always wanted to take a watercolor class at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, so I was thrilled when I was able to sign up for the May watercolor class based on wildflowers. And the class took place the same day as the Friends of the Wichitas' first Wildflower Walk of the season, so I was able to explore the refuge's wildflowers and take pictures of them in the morning to then paint at that afternoon's class.

Liontas-Warren routinely paints in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.

The opportunity to take a free watercolor workshop from a professional artist like Liontas-Warren is exciting enough. But to also walk through the refuge with her and to learn how her eyes see the landscape and the wildflowers is rare.

Liontas-Warren, her friend/assistant Wendy and I spent the last of the three wildflower walks that morning together. We explored a paved path around Lake Elmer Thomas that, surprisingly, Liontas-Warren had never traveled before. She pointed out various areas she wanted to come back and paint, took pictures of plants and wildflowers to paint later, and encouraged us to sit next to the lake and take the moment in before talking about one day hosting a live painting class at the shore's edge.

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The watercolor classes at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge are for all skill levels.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to take a week-long watercolor class with Liontas-Warren at the Carnegie Library. That week, we focused specifically on painting flowers with watercolors. So going into the class at the refuge, I had a small foundation for some of the techniques Liontas-Warren covered. But the class at the refuge was a great opportunity for any watercolor skill level as Liontas-Warren has the ability to explain watercolor in an accessible way.

The class was made up of 30 or more people. Some of the attendees had taken classes with Liontas-Warren before. Others were completely new to the class, the refuge and watercolors. If you had never taken the class before, Liontas-Warren provided a free leather-bound notebook of watercolor paper for you to keep, with the condition that if you took the class again, you would have to bring it back to fill with more watercolors. And if you didn't bring your own supplies, attendees could borrow provided watercolors, brushes, pencils, etc.

Liontas-Warren started the class by giving demonstrations of different watercolor techniques, including wet-into-wet and wet-into-dry. We all gathered around her to watch each technique. She showed us what brush she was using. She discussed what colors she was mixing together and why. And she explained each and every brush stroke she made, what purpose they each served and showed the class how it all looked on paper.

After the demonstrations, we could pick out black-and-white printouts of various wildflowers found in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Some of the watercolor class attendees did not attend the morning's Wildflower Walk, so small colored photos of each flower were provided. However, those who had gone on the Wildflower Walk were encouraged to use photos they had taken that day to use as inspiration for their watercolors.

One of the wildflowers Liontas-Warren used as a demonstration was the Black-eyed Susan. Since I had taken a photo of a Black-eyed Susan that morning, I decided to use it as reference for one of my watercolors that day.

I focused mostly on by Black-eyed Susan and only finished the class with a sketch of my Indian Paint brush. I plan to finish both paintings by continuing to use photos I took that day as reference. I also hope to continue exploring the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge and finding more wildflowers and sceneries to take pictures of and continue to add paintings to my new watercolor book.

If you get the opportunity, sign up for the watercolor class and the walk at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.

If you're ever scrolling on Facebook at the right time and come across the sign up form for either a watercolor class or a walk hosted by the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge or the Friends of the Wichitas, you should immediately sign up. Don't wait for your friends. Just do it.

Even though the class and the walk would be great activities to do with friends, you don't want to miss out on these experiences. You never know, you might discover new sceneries of the refuge or a hidden talent for watercolors.

For more information about future classes and walks at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, follow the refuge and the Friends of the Wichitas on Facebook.

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