Saturday Morning Studio Classes

We are happy to announce starting Saturday, October 4th we will be offering weekly traditional drawing and painting classes in our studio.  Here are the details:

A session will run from 9:30 am - 12 noon

Ages 10 through adult

Students are expected to bring their own art supplies.  A material list will be provided or we can provide an introductory set-up for a nominal fee.

Similar to music lessons, the student should expect to increase skill with each class and PRACTICE drawing between classes in a sketchbook.

$20 per session.  We ask that you commit to 5 sessions at a time to reserve your seat.  

Paid sessions may be postponed when there is a schedule conflict or illness.  Please call to let us know if you will be postponing a session.

Seats are limited to 8 students and will be awarded first come/first served.  Please call asap with any questions or to reserve a seat.  Christine @ 447-4906

Drawing

Graphite - Charcoal - Pen & Ink - Pastel - Colored Pencil

Techniques practiced will include:

• hatching & cross hatching
• stippling
• smudging & blending
• highlighting
• lifting
• blind contour drawing
• speed gesture sketches

Exercises include:

• Tonal values & shading
• Griding the composition
• Shadows & reflective light

Still Life or Landscape Painting

Acrylic or Watercolor

Sketch & Image Transfer

Students will be painting from a choice of still life set ups or landscape photos in the studio.  After several “thumbnail sketches” they will draw their composition at actual size, “tone” their canvas board and then transfer it onto the canvas board.

Value Study

Students will create several value sketches before “underpainting” their canvas.  This process helps strengthen the composition and how the eye will travel around the painting.

Color Blocking

Students will plan their palette, learn about color mixing, and how to change the values and chroma of their mixed colors.  They will then block in the large sections of the dominate colors in their composition.

Texture and Detail

Playing with different brushes, tools and palette knives, students will experiment with how to create texture and details with paint before applying the technique onto their painting.

Finishing Touches

Details are time consuming in the painting process, so students will be given ample time to use small brushes to finish up their work, as well as sign their painting.  They will also learn how to varnish their acrylic painting.

Sculpture Week

Our morning crew last week kept us on our toes, and kept us laughing!  Not only did they finish a 5 day paper-clay project in 3 days, but they mastered "God's Eye" weavings, created mobiles, and made wacky clay creations.  Great kids and great art!

August Still Life Painting Camp

An amazing week of very hard working artists, ages 11-15, most who never painted "from life" before this week.  The process started with quick sketches, then a value study. Next was the detailed drawing (and re-drawing) using a grid to help lay out the composition. Next, the artists transferred the sketches onto their canvases with graphite paper. The painting process began with a toned canvas, then a brown underpainting to find the shadows and dark spots in the painting, then they were allowed to add the color, mixing all of their colors from a basic palette of about 6 colors and white. Big shapes first and details at the end, I think they were all quite happy to finally sign them, and we could not be more proud of their work!  Make sure to click on the photos to enlarge them.

This guy was able to get an extra landscape in on the last day!

Still Life Painting Camp

These three young artists, two of whom never formally painted with either of us before, did the most beautiful jobs on their "Grandma's Nightstand" still life paintings.  It was hard work, and took a bit of patience to really SEE the still life so they could draw and paint it accurately.  We are very proud of each of them, and I am sure you are impressed too.  More still life paintings will be done at our August Camp, so stay tuned...

Print Shop Week

To say the artists at our print shop camp week made the most of what they learned would be an understatement.  These kids were AWESOME!  They did gelatin mono prints, ghost prints, collages, custom drawn silk screen designs and painterly mono prints on plexiglas.  The photos show just a bit of all that was produced, with each artist going home with a bulging portfolio and tote bag.  

Can't wait for the next crew to attack Sculpture Week in August.

A Chair Affair

It was such a great first week of Summer Art Camp, with artists ranging from 5th through 9th grade.  We will let the photos speak for themselves, but we must say, these ladies made for a really fun week and showed such good work ethics, we could not be more proud of what they accomplished in only four 1/2 day sessions!

The first day, chair selection

Chair prep

Hair highlighting was a bonus

Practice on the undersides first

Base painting was the boring part

Ballet Chair

Seaside Chair

Lucy's Bow Wow Chair

Magical Unicorn Chair

Harry Potter Chair

Adventure time Chair

Cottage Cutie Chair

Mexican Tile Chair

Dance Diva Chair

Notice the ballet shoes hanging on the chair back :-)