Handmade for the holidays~ 🎁

Amazing work at our recent Acrylic Landscapes class! That painting would make a beautiful gift, wouldn't it? The next class isn't until January, but we have an Oil Landscapes class coming up at the end of the month!

This holiday season, consider supporting local artists and small business, reducing consumption of new materials and goods, and giving your loved ones unique gifts or experiences they'll remember!

Our annual Be Merry show opened Saturday with dozens of one-of-a-kind, handmade ornaments made by our member artists to take home or to gift! We also always have tons of original drawings and paintings available, some framed, some unframed!

Of course, you can always get supplies to make your own art pieces to gift. Need paints? Pens? Markers? Check the recently restocked section later in this email to see what came in this week!

Not sure what to make? Take a class! We have a couple of holiday card-making classes coming up, but almost all of our classes have you making a cool drawing or painting that can be a gift!

You can also gift a class itself! Making art together with a friend or family member can make the experience way more fun and memorable, in addition to being a great bonding experience!

Lots of options! And yes, we do have gift cards. :) Cheers!

Harvest Food Drive

We're participating in Ballard's Harvest Food Drive again this year! Things have been extra rough for many of our neighbours lately, and every little thing helps!

Donate or volunteer at the Ballard Food Bank directly if you're able, or bring requested items (there's a list at the bottom here) to us at the store and we'll drop them off for you!

FREE Art After School for KIDS

The final 4-session series in After School Art for Kids for the semester starts Monday, November 24!

Got or know a kid aged 7-10? Think they'd benefit from learning to express themselves more creatively? The upcoming series is for them!

25% off Tri-Art acrylics & Gamblin 1980 oils

Due to tariffs, we're unfortunately not going to be restocking Tri-Art for the time being. :(

For Gamblin, we'll be replacing the 1980 line (student grade) with the full line of pro grade artist colors.

Enjoy 25% off Tri-Art acrylics and Gamblin 1980 oils until they're gone!

In-store only!

Want to make gifts for friends a family? Watercolor Pet Portraits is perfect for the task! Paint a loved one's fav animal for them and learn a lil more about using watercolor while you're at it! Great for beginners and intermediate artists alike!

TONIGHT, November 18, 6:00 PM: Join us at Hattie's Hat as always for our twice monthly Ballard Sketch Team, a casual meetup for artists! Bring your sketchbook and settle in for a chill evening of doodling and good times! 🍔 FREE MEETUP.

Wednesday, November 19, 3:30 PM: The final 5-class series of the fall Teen Art After School program kicks off! Explore the Art of Illustration and bring to life stories, poems, nature journals, or whatever text and images your imagination can come up with. 🧙 FREE/PWYW

Wednesday, November 19, 6:00 PM: This month's Drawing Techniques is SOLD OUT! Sign up early for the next one! 🐉

Thursday, November 20, 6:00 PM: Make time to spend time with your poetry, whether that's writing new work, editing older work, asking for feedback, practicing reading, or just spending time with other poets and being inspired by their work! Art isn't created in a vacuum, and it can be informative and inspiring to see what others are up to at Part-Time Poets' Club! 🪶FREE MEETUP.

Friday, November 21, 8:00 PM: Our monthly Figure Drawing session is here! No matter how many times you revisit it, the human body is beautiful, weird, and complicated. Whether you're brushing up your foundations or seeking deeper understanding of how the body moves, twists, bends, and settles, a live model helps, and company doesn't hurt! 📝

Saturday, November 22, 11:00 AM: Show and tell your fav photos of your fav animals, then learn how to capture their essence in Watercolor Pet Portraits! 🐶 FOUR SPOTS LEFT!

Saturday, November 22, 3:00 PM: Go all out and create your own totally over-the-top Maxx-imalist Charm Necklace with Maxx! A great beginner jewelry class or friend hangout session. All materials are provided for one delightfully cluttered necklace. 📿NEW CLASS.

Sunday, November 23, NOON: This month's Gouache Critters will cover sea stars! Do you know how weird and diverse sea stars can be? Learn about some different kinds and also about gouache, watercolor's opaque relative! Whether you're a nature nerd or just want some more practice in painting, this class is for you! ⭐

Sunday, November 23, 4:00 PM: What makes up a fountain pen ink? Why are certain colors so hard to achieve, and why do our inks sometimes smell like cloves? These questions and more answered at Fountain Pen Ink Mix & Make, where you'll make up to four of your own inks! ✒️

Sunday, November 23, 7:15 PM: Find and build community at Riff Raff League! Give yourself space to process politics on both a local and national level, and figure out what you can do to resist without overburdening yourself. 🔥FREE MEETUP.

Handmade ornaments

New! Quite a few ornaments sold opening night for Be Merry, but there are still many left for you to peruse!

Buyers are able to take ornaments home immediately, rather than wait until the end of the show, so hurry! Otherwise you may not even be able to see the ornaments before they find homes! :o

There are lots of different ways to do an embroidery stitch! Learn a variety of them at Embroidery Stitch Sampler and add some spice to your next project!

Monday, November 24, 3:30 PM: It's the first session of "Beyond the Self Portrait," a 4-class series in our After School Art for Kids program for kids aged 7-10! In this series, they'll explore a variety of ways to express themselves through art, including making masks, collages, and abstract depictions! Great for building confidence, creative muscles, and outside-the-box thinking. 👧👦🧒

Monday, November 24, 6:00 PM: Learn a bunch of new embroidery stitches in one go and level up your embroidery game at Embroidery Stitch Sampler! Your winter embroidery projects aren't gonna know what hit them! 🪡

Wednesday, November 26, 6:00 PM: Come paint some stunning skies at this month's Watercolor Landscapes! Practice wet-into-wet techniques to create distinct and beautiful clouds, and create gorgeous gradients to make a subtle, realistic effect. ☁️

Friday, November 28, NOON: This month's Block Printing Workshop is SOLD OUT! A nice surprise after the last few have been canceled due to low registration. :o We don't technically have a regular December workshop, but we'll have Block Print Your Own Holiday Cards! (And no one will care if you don't actually want to make a card! :P) You can also go ahead and sign up for January's regular workshop if you want! 💌

Friday, November 28, 6:00 PM: Come to our end-of-month QU-ART and chill out with fellow queer artists! Bring a project or start a new one, and catch up with what everyone else is up to! 🌈 FREE MEETUP.

Saturday, November 29, 10:30 PM: Mushrooms make great painting subjects: they're diverse, colorful, pleasingly shaped, and a perfect way to practice using gouache! Join us for our Paint a Gouache-shroom class for a bit of mushroom nerdery and paint exploration! 🍄

Saturday, November 29, 2:30 PM: Make a design once and print it multiple times on a variety of things with DIY Screen Printing! Learn about the process in a low-stakes and supportive environment, using a small screen specially made for this class! 🪟

Sunday, November 30, 11:30 AM: Learn something new while knocking something off your to-do list! Learn how to design for Risograph printing and get some holiday cards done at the same time at Holiday Cards on Risograph! The season is upon us, but it can be fun! Promise! 🖨️

Sunday, November 30, 3:00 PM: Another great two-for-one option is Majestic Oil Landscapes, a great introductory oil painting class where you just might paint something you can gift! 🌄

Sunday, November 30, 7:15 PM: Hold onto hope, get involved, and figure out what you can do about the issues you care about at our weekly Riff Raff League meeting! 🔥 FREE MEETUP.

Monday, December 1, 5:30 PM: Want to add crocheting to your list of awesome skills? Join Udaya for Make it in Crochet! Learn to read patterns and get started making something small, building skills you can use to tackle larger projects at home! 🧶

It's mushroom season! Have you seen these beautiful guys out in the woods and behind random traffic signs? We've got another round of Paint a Gouache-shroom coming up, so come paint your fav mushroom(s) while learning about one of our fav mediums, gouache! 🍄🍄🍄