Still life Composition & Painting Workshop October 22-25 (4 day)
Description:
We will work together on still life composition, brush painting, and knife painting. Any skill level in painting is fine, I enjoy adjusting my advice for each person's level. However, more advanced students will find it easier to focus on the subtleties of composition. A solid drawing background is highly recommended.
Thursday morning:
Composition! I will work individually with each student to compose a still life setup. The goal will be to create compositions with a powerful sense of focus. This is an important stage and we will give it some thought. I also encourage students to listen to the composition problems faced by fellow students--it is a great way to learn and process. If you are finished earlier than others with your setup, you can begin setting out your paints.
The rest of Thursday:
After everyone has a good setup, I will explain my own composition and intentions, then I will begin a demo of my painting method and answer questions while I paint. The more questions the better. At some point I'll stop and everyone will begin on their own paintings and I will circulate to help each person.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday:
You will paint and I will circulate. I will periodically come back to my demo. If my first demo was with brushes, I will do another demo with a new composition to show my knife technique, or vise-versa, or a mixture. Depending on the needs of the group I may also decide to do quick demo-ettes such as a piece of fruit just to show effective turning of a round form. However, priority is given to your work time so that I can give you practical advice. You may choose to create a new composition every day if you like, or you may dig in and get to a more finished stage. I love talking about composition, and the beginning stages are so important, so I encourage more starts. That is how I was taught, and it did wonders for me.
Note: I would hope that you are not overly concerned with producing sellable work during the workshop as it will hinder learning. If you end up with something great, that is a bonus, but I don't want students to feel rushed or obsessed with production. I am mostly concerned with communicating some key concepts in a way that really sinks in. I want this knowledge to be useful for you later on. We will work hard and enjoy the process together.
