Georgia
Watercolor on the Golden Isles
Program No. 8213RJ
Find inspiration in the beauty of Jekyll Island as you learn the art of watercolor, enjoying daily instruction, demonstrations and exercises to improve your confidence and technique.
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800-454-5768
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Prices displayed below are based on per person,doubleoccupancy.
DATES
& starting prices
PRICES
Apr 6 - Apr 11, 2025
Starting at
1,949DATES
& starting prices
PRICES
Mar 30 - Apr 4, 2025
Starting at
2,559Apr 6 - Apr 11, 2025
Starting at
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This date is available to book as a private experience for your group!
6 days
5 nights
12 meals
5B 3L 4D
1
Check-in, Registration, Welcome Dinner, Orientation
Jekyll Island, GA
2
Watercolor Instruction, Open Studio, Driftwood Beach
Jekyll Island, GA
3
Watercolor Instruction & Painting; Jekyll Historic District
Jekyll Island, GA
4
Watercolor Class, Hotel Behind the Scenes, Free Afternoon
Jekyll Island, GA
5
Watercolor Instruction, Art Opening
Jekyll Island, GA
6
Wrap-up, Program Concludes
Jekyll Island, GA
At a Glance
Learn to express your ideas and creativity through the beauty of watercolor on the gem of the Golden Isles of Georgia – Jekyll Island. Begin to build a solid foundation of basic watercolor skills and learn the unique properties of this medium: pigments, mixing colors with a limited palette, brush control, methods of applying watercolor to paper, papers available for watercolor and building values in a painting. Through natural progression, learn to change shapes into forms, create a color wheel, learn about color theory, and throughout this process paint a number of scenes based on subject matter readily available all around you. Be inspired and create lovely watercolors!
Activity Level
Easy Going
There is minimal walking and standing on this program.
At the hotel, there are steps leading from the Bellstand to the veranda at the entrance (there is a handicap lift available). There are also 4 steps leading to the front desk. There is a gift shop at the hotel that has steps as well, which include 3 steps up and 3 steps down.
Small Group
Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.
Best of all, you’ll…
- Enjoy ample individual attention from an instructor who will enthusiastically lead you from the color wheel, through sketching to many finished paintings.
- Through daily exploration of creative processes, delve into ideas and techniques in a loose and free approach.
- Explore Jekyll Island during free time, and learn how the island was made into a winter retreat for families including the Rockefellers and Pulitzers.
General Notes
Suitable for Beginner/Intermediate watercolor participants. All watercolor materials are supplied for ease of travel. Participants can bring favorite brushes, pigments, and other watercolor tools for use in the evenings. Due to the nature of this program, listening devices are not available.
Featured Expert
All trip experts
Jim Gensheer
Jim Gensheer has taught watercolor for more than thirty years in a variety of settings, including as a private instructor in his own studio, workshops in France and Croatia, as a high school art teacher, and as an invited guest artist in art programs across Georgia. Jim has studied with Skip Lawrence, Don Andrews, and Charles Reid, and his paintings have been collected internationally.
Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.
JoAnn Buisson
View biography
JoAnn Buisson is a retired elementary school teacher from Boston, Mass. After college, she was employed as a nursery school teacher until 1981. She remained at home until 1994 in order to raise her children. In 1994, JoAnn accepted a position with a local elementary school as an art teacher, eventually retiring in 2014. Upon retirement, she moved to Jekyll Island with her husband. She continues her interest in the arts, taking several classes in pottery.
Jim Gensheer
View biography
Jim Gensheer has taught watercolor for more than thirty years in a variety of settings, including as a private instructor in his own studio, workshops in France and Croatia, as a high school art teacher, and as an invited guest artist in art programs across Georgia. Jim has studied with Skip Lawrence, Don Andrews, and Charles Reid, and his paintings have been collected internationally.
Suggested Reading List
(1 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Watercolor on the Golden Isles
Program Number: 8213
The Jekyll Island Colony
During the Gilded Age, Jekyll Island, Georgia, was one of the most exclusive resort destinations in the United States. Owned by the most elite and inaccessible social club in America, a group whose members included Rockefellers, Pulitzers, Vanderbilts, Goulds, and Morgans, this quiet refuge in the Golden Isles was the perfect winter getaway for the wealthy new industrial class of the snowbound North.
In this delightful book, a companion volume to The Jekyll Island Club: Southern Haven for America's Millionaires, June Hall McCash focuses on the social club's members and the "cottages" they built near the clubhouse between 1888 and 1928. Illustrated with hundreds of never-before-published photographs from private family collections, The Jekyll Island Cottage Colony tells the stories of each home, the owners' connections with the island, and their interactions with one another.
While we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our published materials, programs are typically advertised more than a year prior to their start date. As a result, some program activities, schedules, accommodations, personnel, and other logistics occasionally change due to local conditions or circumstances. Should a major change occur, we will make every effort to alert you. For less significant changes, we will update you during orientation. Thank you for your understanding.
Duration
6 days
5 nights
What's Included
12 meals (
5B, 3L, 4D
)
5 expert-led lectures
3 expert-led field trips
8 hands-on experiences
1 performance
An experienced Group Leader
5 nights of accommodations
Taxes and customary gratuity
Road Scholar Assurance Plan
Day
1
Check-in, Registration, Welcome Dinner, Orientation
Location:
Jekyll Island, GA
Meals:
D
Stay:
Jekyll Island Club Resort
Activity Note
Hotel check-in from 4:00 p.m.
Afternoon:
Program Registration: After you have your room assignment, come over to the Road Scholar table to register with the program staff and get your welcome packet containing your name-tag, up-to-date schedule that reflects any last-minute changes, and other important information. If you arrive late, please ask for your packet when you check in.
Dinner:
Dinner in a private banquet room at the hotel. All program meals are served buffet-style with a variety of options to accommodate most dietary needs. On your health form, only note dietary restrictions that may be difficult to manage by selecting from the buffet. If necessary, we'll contact you to arrange a special plate. If a special plate is prepared for you, it will replace the buffet options.
Evening:
Orientation: 7:00 p.m. The Group Leader will greet everyone and lead introductions. We will review the up-to-date program schedule, discuss roles and responsibilities, logistics, safety guidelines, emergency procedures, and answer questions. This program is staffed with an expert instructor who will provide educational content, and a Group Leader who will deal primarily with logistics. Due to the nature of the program, most activities will take place at the hotel; a main exception is the use of a trolley to explore the historic district. All meals will be taken at the hotel. Periods in the daily schedule designated as “Free time” and “At leisure” offer opportunities to do what you like and make your experience even more meaningful and memorable according to your personal preferences. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions. Program activities, schedules, personnel, and indicated distances or times may change due to local circumstances/conditions. In the event of changes, we will alert you as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding. Continue getting to know your fellow Road Scholars, settle in, and get a good night’s rest for the day ahead.
Day
2
Watercolor Instruction, Open Studio, Driftwood Beach
Location:
Jekyll Island, GA
Meals:
B,L,D
Stay:
Jekyll Island Club Resort
Activity Note
Full day of instruction and painting. Getting on and off the shuttle. Walking on the beach 30-45 minutes.
Breakfast:
In the hotel’s Victorian-era Grand Dining Room.
Morning:
Our instructor begins Exploring Watercolor with a discussion of watercolor paper, three different brushes that will be used, the limited choice of pigments the instructor has placed on the palettes and choices of palettes that are available. Handouts describe the color wheel and show the group how they are going to create a color wheel from colors on the palette. This process leads to discussion of color schemes like monochromatic, color triads, analogous and complimentary. Group will create some small paintings that explore these color schemes. Group will experiment with different brushes and watercolor papers. These explorations will acquaint the students with vocabulary that will be utilized throughout the entire week. Questions are encouraged and these topics will be reviewed throughout the week. The instructor will continue to monitor what each student is working on and answers questions.
Lunch:
In a banquet room at the hotel, we’ll enjoy lunch together.
Afternoon:
The instructor will discuss ways of maintaining white areas. Students do an exercise to understand value and complete a value study. Instructor discusses ways to achieve the darkest values of a color and students do a second exercise exploring making shapes into three dimensional forms. After these two short lessons the instructor shows the students a series of paintings with step-by-step breakdown for the process of creating a finished watercolor. Regardless of subject matter, these basic watercolor painting techniques remain constant. Instructor discusses format of a painting, a decision that must be made with every new painting. Students make a light drawing, determine white areas, apply light values, begin mixing intermediate washes, textures, add darker “glazes”, add the darkest darks and finishing details. The instructor encourages questions and answers so that everyone will benefit. “Tricks of the trade”, like sea sponges, corks on toothpicks, “artistic” tissue techniques are shared to enhance the watercolors. We will take a short shuttle drive to view Driftwood Beach which will be the inspiration for our upcoming paintings!
Dinner:
Dinner in the banquet room.
Evening:
Students are given time to complete unfinished artwork, begin new pieces, and get one on one attention from the instructor.
Day
3
Watercolor Instruction & Painting; Jekyll Historic District
Location:
Jekyll Island, GA
Meals:
B,L,D
Stay:
Jekyll Island Club Resort
Activity Note
20-30 minutes of walking/standing on tour. Getting on and off the trolley.
Breakfast:
Breakfast will be served in the Grand Dining Room at the hotel.
Morning:
Instructor reviews Monday’s lessons on color wheel, value, terms used and steps to creating a watercolor. New ideas are shared that include creating texture, unity in a painting, balance, contrast, emphasis, pattern, movement and rhythm. Students are given additional handouts of oak trees, birds, marsh grasses, and palms indigenous to the Jekyll Island area and coast. Instructor gives brief demonstrations on painting the different trees, Spanish moss, birds and grasses. Students do small studies of each before beginning two different paintings that incorporate some of the new subjects that have been discussed. Instructor continues to give one-on-one instruction as questions arise in the process of completing the paintings. After class, we will take a behind the scenes tour to see how the Jekyll Island Club has maintained its standards of luxurious service for over a century.
Lunch:
Lunch will be served at the hotel.
Afternoon:
After lunch we will take a guided tour of the historic district on the trolley. We will then have open studio with each student finishing or creating new watercolors. Instructor is available for all students’ questions.
Dinner:
Dinner at the hotel.
Evening:
Following dinner, we will paint and enjoy the music and storytelling of local musician Thomas Schuyler. Students are given time to complete unfinished artwork, begin new pieces, and get one on one attention from the instructor.
Day
4
Watercolor Class, Hotel Behind the Scenes, Free Afternoon
Location:
Jekyll Island, GA
Meals:
B
Stay:
Jekyll Island Club Resort
Activity Note
Walking 20-30 minutes through the hotel.
Breakfast:
Breakfast will be served in the Grand Dining Room at the hotel.
Morning:
Coastal Georgia is known for it’s marshes and today the group begins two paintings of the marsh and islands. Format is discussed again and instructor reviews how she would progress through the painting, sharing step by step paintings of how to get to the final, finished watercolor. Before exploring the island on your own, we will be given a private behind the scenes tour of the Jekyll Island Club where we will learn about the events and people that are a part of the property's fascinating history and how it has maintained its standards of luxurious service.
Lunch:
This meal has been excluded from the program cost and is on your own to enjoy what you like. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions.
Afternoon:
Free time. Take this opportunity for personal independent exploration to see and do what interests you most. As you explore the island, take this opportunity to gain inspiration for your next painting.
Dinner:
This meal has been excluded from the program cost and is on your own to enjoy what you like. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions
Day
5
Watercolor Instruction, Art Opening
Location:
Jekyll Island, GA
Meals:
B,L,D
Stay:
Jekyll Island Club Resort
Activity Note
Full day of instruction and painting.
Breakfast:
Breakfast in the historic Grand Dining Room at the hotel.
Morning:
Students utilize subjects in photos taken on their adventures around the island on Wednesday for two new paintings. The instructor reviews the steps to planning and laying out the drawing for these new paintings. Each participants’ ideas for their last couple of watercolors are discussed as a group so everyone can hear how to plan for different subjects. Instructor continues to monitor and encourage each student.
Lunch:
Hotel meal.
Afternoon:
Students finish paintings and select several of their artworks for the art show that will occur Thursday evening. Instructor answers any remaining questions about finishing the paintings.
Dinner:
Dinner in the banquet room.
Evening:
After dinner we will have an Art Opening. The group gathers around the art show that has been hung in the classroom area. The impact of this final event is so encouraging for the latest group of Road Scholar watercolorists! Wonderful artwork created by each participant are given a positive critique summing up what they have accomplished.
Day
6
Wrap-up, Program Concludes
Location:
Jekyll Island, GA
Meals:
B
Activity Note
Hotel check-out by 11 a.m.
Breakfast:
Breakfast in the Grand Dining Room at the hotel.
Morning:
Some of our group will be leaving before or after breakfast. This gives those participants who wish to discuss their work with the instructor more time to do so. One on one sessions can be scheduled from breakfast time through the morning. We hope you enjoy Road Scholar learning adventures and look forward to having you on rewarding programs in the future.
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MEALS
12 Meals
5 Breakfasts
3 Lunches
4 Dinners
LODGING
Lodgings may differ by date. Select a date to see the lodgings specific to that date.
Showing Lodging For:
- Oct 04, 2026 - Oct 09, 2026
- Mar 30, 2025 - Apr 04, 2025
- Apr 06, 2025 - Apr 11, 2025
- Sep 07, 2025 - Sep 12, 2025
- Nov 02, 2025 - Nov 07, 2025
- Nov 09, 2025 - Nov 14, 2025
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- Mar 29, 2026 - Apr 03, 2026
- Apr 05, 2026 - Apr 10, 2026
- Sep 27, 2026 - Oct 02, 2026
- Oct 04, 2026 - Oct 09, 2026
Participant Reviews
Based on 20 Reviews
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Learned lots of new watercolor techniques and Jekyll Island is beautiful!
— Review left April 26, 2024
Watercolor on the Golden Isles was a wonderful adventure in learning more about watercolor painting. Both Jim and JoAnn were excellent hosts. Jim presented our art lessons in an easy to understand manner, and JoAnn kept the program running smoothly. The hotel and meals were beyond delightful. I would recommend this program to anyone interested in watercolor paintingl
— Review left April 23, 2024
Jim Gensheer, Watercolor Teacher, never lost faith that we could learn this somewhat challenging medium. He taught us techniques we can take "on the road' with us. Very pleased with the outcome and that I attended. Joann Buisson also kept us well supported in so many ways. I hope there will be other opportunities just like this.
— Review left April 9, 2024
This was my favorite RS trip ever! Best hotel, best instructors, best place for friendships. I thought I knew a thing or two and quickly learned that I must have missed a lot! But the instructor ignored my shortcomings and brought me up to speed. Beautiful.
— Review left April 7, 2024
Outstanding program that's perfect for beginning and intermediate watercolorists, set on beautiful Jekyll Island. Program organizer JoAnn Buisson was great, and artist instructor Jim Gensheer was patient, demonstrated techniques clearly, and provided excellent supplies. Best of all, the other students were helpful and inspiring. This was my first RS program and other students (one of whom was taking her 29th RS class) said that they were always as well organized and educational as this one. I'm scouring the catalog to find more!
— Review left April 6, 2024
This was an excellent trip. What a joy to attend a watercolor course at a beautiful resort and great food. Well done.
— Review left March 18, 2024
Jim is a wonderful instructor. I have been painting for a while now and he taught me many new things !
— Review left January 29, 2024
I was hesitant about participating in th eprogram due to my age-concered about traveling alone, but I found very little problem.I had a wonderfut time, and found the "I never will quit learning.I am looking forward to maybe explore more "roads"
— Review left January 28, 2024
This was a really nice trip. The location is beautiful, the history is fascinating, the weather was perfect. The watercolor instruction was excellent. Plenty of time to explore on your own or stay back and paint. Highly recommend!
— Review left November 13, 2023
I really enjoyed this program. The instructor and coordinator were excellent and caring.The instructor was very patient and I learned a lot. The coordinator was very personable There was a good mixture between painting and 'exploring.' It was a wonderful learning vacation. .
— Review left November 11, 2023
This was a very good program and I enjoyed it enormously. We had a good teacher an exceptional group leader.
— Review left May 8, 2023
This was an absolutely beautiful place for a program!!! The Jekyll Island Club was charming & provided well for our needs. There was lots of painting time, but little instruction was provided. Probably not a great program for beginners. There is lots to do on the Island- historic tours, dolphin tours, a sea turtle hospital etc. Had a great time!
— Review left May 5, 2023
Watercolor on the Golden Isles takes place in the Jekyll Island Club (circa 1890s) where natural beauty surrounded us and the property was inspirational for our art projects. Anne Marie is a wonderful teacher, anticipated all our needs, and provided lots of equipment so that we didn't need to bring anything. The last-night art "show" sounded intimidating, but wasn't at all. Everyone worked to their own level and style and we all learned from each other. The hotel is old (in a good way) and my room was modern, large, and had everything I needed. The staff at JIC was ever-present and helpful. Have a drink in the bar at night in front of the fireplace for a "time-travel" treat.
— Review left January 28, 2023
Fabulous resort on a beautiful history filled island. Meals are delicious. When not painting, the hotel shuttle will take you anywhere on the island. Don't miss the trolley tour from the museum. Two must do things: A visit to Driftwood Beach at low tide and a trip to Faith Chapel with its 2 magnificent stained glass windows. Group leader JoAnn and art teacher AnnMarie are terrific. You'll be surprised by the beautiful paintings made in a few days.
— Review left December 3, 2019
What a perfect way for a New Englander to celebrate retirement! The semitropical setting with pale Spanish moss dripping from oaks, palmettos silhouetted against red sunsets over water, historic Victorian buildings renovated for visitors to this Georgia state park —were delightfully different from what I’m used to. Somehow we managed to paint ten pictures of various sizes (bookmarks, cards, to 8x10) in four days (first and last days are for travel). The teacher provided artist quality paper, paint, brushes, and masking materials — so I wish I hadn’t brought my own supplies that went untouched! There were 22 participants with widely ranging experience— from “never painted” to years of classes. Therefore, some were frustrated that the class was too fast or slow, complex or just review. However, most people had been educators or caregivers, so they had patience and understood the challenge. I wish our leader had been able to assist the teacher because she had a background in elementary art. Some ladies were recent widows or cancer survivors, so were there for the therapeutic benefits of a lovely setting, meeting interesting new acquaintances, and engaging in creative hands-on activities. The oldest and perkiest artist was 86! Our leader told us where the locals ate (yes!) after many hotel style buffets. I loved the whole week, from trying new techniques to taking home my souvenir pictures of the island. This was off season, so I’m glad I brought a warm vest and sweatshirt. Now I am initiated and looking forward to a second RS program!
— Review left November 30, 2019
A jewel for sure. The beauty of the island, the inn, the meals, the shuttle, tours, history and the class in watercolor is inspiring. Some experience in watercolor is suggested. The instructor and leader are exceptional. Might want to allow extra days to explore this beautiful area.
— Review left November 26, 2019
This is a totally engaging class in an enchanting setting. I highly recommend this program.
— Review left November 23, 2019
The first paragraph of my review summarizes my experience and may be posted.
— Review left November 23, 2019
A lovely location. Inspiring place to paint!
— Review left March 31, 2019
The group leader Joan and instructor Anne Marie were excellent. The location on Jekyll was lovely and historically so interesting. A fun and informative experience.
— Review left March 16, 2019
