PAINTING AND PROCESS

Painting with freedom and experimentation

Want to immerse yourself in the experience of painting? Whether you’re experienced or not, this painting course strives to reinvigorate you, loosen you up a bit, and take you for a deep dive into the world of colour, light, shadows and texture.

I created this course because after 10 years of teaching adults painting, I feel like there are a few ways that many of us tend to struggle when it comes to painting. If you are struggling with low self-confidence, overwhelm, or rigid thinking, this can get in the way of painting with spontaneity and ease.

Here’s what we can aim for -

confidence - So many of us have the feeling, even if we’re beginners, that we’re not good enough, and we may defer to others for critique or feedback. I think it’s important to trust your intuition as an artist, in order to do personally meaningful work. I’ll help you to find your way with this.

clarity - There are so many decisions to make when you paint that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. I will help you take things bit by bit so that you can focus.

freedom - If we have a set idea of what we’re after and things don’t go according to plan, it can be frustrating and we can give ourselves a very hard time. Knowing when to change and throw away your original vision can help the painting do what it does best.

Structured to be practical yet freeing, classes begin with colour mixing, tone and composition as well as how to use the brush and palette knife. Then we’ll move into portraying simple objects from life, incorporating lessons in drawing and how to block in and layer paint. After that, we’ll move into landscape ideas and figure and portrait studies. At all steps of the way there will be process-based exercises to loosen up, demos on technique, and images by a variety of artists to inspire and inform us.

Come along and begin your painting adventure!

Drawing experiments

Are you looking for a way to feel more confident at drawing?

There are many straightforward yet freeing approaches to drawing with confidence and vigour, that will not only entice you to draw more often, but will help you SEE the world in a way you maybe never have before.

Through exploratory exercises, active demonstrations and references to the drawings of a variety of artists, you will learn how to discern proportional relationships, look for rhythms, patterns, edges, and tone, as well as develop your own compositional style.

In no time, you will be approaching drawing in a whole new way, fortified with technique and two essential habits of mind - how to look, and how to interpret what it is you wish to express through your marks, in order to capture a particular feeling, detail or abstraction.

Come and enjoy drawing and experimenting!