October Demo Artist - Tara Sweeney
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Zeller Studio in Hopkins, MN (in-person & Zoom)
1421 Mainstreet, Hopkins, MN 55343
Watercolor Figure Magic with Tara Sweeney
Thursday, October 9, 2025 at 7-8:30pm
Zeller Studio in Hopkins, MN and Live on Zoom
“Let the water do the work.”
Tara Sweeney will demonstrate her watercolor figure magic—a layered, values savvy, hold-the-whites approach to her favorite subject matter. She paints in transparent layers with a limited palette of M. Graham pigments, often mingling wet-into-wet and flinging or plopping paint directly on 140# Arches cold-press paper to create intentional edges and glowing color. She’ll share examples and tips on how she pays attention to a photo reference and when she sets it aside to “let the water do the work.” After twelve years of teaching undergraduate life drawing with watercolor and ink she still frequently chooses faces and figures as subject matter in the studio and in plein air sketching.
Tara will teach watercolor figure workshops at: Dillman’s Art Retreats, Lac du Flambeau WI, August 24-29, 2025; and the American Swedish Institute, Minneapolis, MN, January 9-11, 2026. Register at organization website.
Tara Sweeney is an award-winning artist, illustrator and author from Saint Paul, MN. She is a popular watercolor painting and sketching workshop instructor and a signature member of NWS, TWSA, RRWS, MNWS and North Star. Her watercolor portraits and figures are regularly awarded top honors. Her debut picture book, A to Zåäö: Playing with History at the American Swedish Institute (University of MN Press, 2019) was a MN Book Award finalist and inspiration for the 2020 exhibition extra/ordinary and a TPT2 MN Original. She earned undergraduate degrees in studio art and design from the UW, and an MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She is professor emerita with Augsburg University where she taught painting, drawing, design and travel programming for 25 years. She enjoys learning languages, partner dancing and traveling with a sketchbook in hand—most recently to Sweden, May 2025. View her work at: tarasweeneyart.com.
