Beginning Acrylic Painting

The main goal is to enhance familiarity and comfort with the acrylic medium by exploring its fundamental techniques and concepts (and to have fun!). This will be achieved through the completion of three distinct projects, each designed to build skills incrementally. The projects will focus on various aspects of acrylic painting, such as color mixing, layering techniques, and texture creation, allowing for a comprehensive investigation of the medium. By the end of these projects, participants will have a deeper understanding of acrylics and increased confidence in their ability to utilize this versatile medium effectively.This session is divided into three projects with two classes to work on each project. Each project will focus on several or a combination of these fundamentals:

• Line-Your starting point. Thick, thin, expressive, controlled
• Shape-Giving weight and dimension to objects
• Space-Perspective, depth
• Color-Color wheel! Color relationships!
• Texture-Fun with additives and using the right brush/tool for the desired effect
• Value-Lightness/darkness of color, not what the painting is worth at a Sotheby’s auction

Using principles learned from the Fundamentals, Figure and Head classes, we’ll apply ourknowledge and skills to Old Master figure works. How did they add life and energy to theirfigures? How did their understanding of simple forms convey emotion? Construction drawing willbe a main part of understanding. We’ll look at the various parts of the figure each week andexamples will be given to draw from.

Suggested Reading

1. Figure Drawing For Artists 
2. Drawing Manual 
3. Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters & Master Class In Figure Drawing
4. Drawing from Life by George Bridgman

A six-week studio course focusing on projects dealing with the materials and techniques of drawing, including basic concepts of line, perspective and value as well as figure drawing.

Suggested Reading:

1. A Contemporary Approach
2. Keys to Drawing
3. Figure Drawing for All it’s Worth
4. Figure Drawing and Invention

Students will learn basic rules of artistic landscape design in the impressionist style to unlock the power of the their own independent artistic expression, translating from landscape images. They will learn composition, blocking in shapes, color, and value to create visual interest. In addition, they will learn the beginnings of how to develop their own artistic process and intuition. In addition, they will have the opportunity to learn problem solving and expand their capacity to work on multiple pieces at once. This is a beginner friendly course. 

Course Breakdown

Week1: Composition and Blocking in Shapes (thumbnails)

Week 2: Color and Tone (thumbnails)

Week 3: Larger sketches combining first two weeks of learning

Week 4: Warm up with larger sketches combining first two weeks of learning. Begin work on final project. 

Week 5: Continue work on final project. 

Week 6: Complete final work. 

Beginning Watercolor 

Explore the vibrant world of watercolor, learning key techniques like wet-on-wet, dry brushing, and expert color mixing. Perfect for beginners and those looking to refine their skills, this class provides hands-on guidance to help you build confidence with every brushstroke. Dive into the medium and create stunning effects while gaining a deeper understanding of watercolor’s unique qualities.