“Working out of doors your eye will be brought up to color – it has the effect of shaking off the shackles or your mind, showing you that you can do anything you please, making you dare”. Charles Hawthorne

The early 1900 summer art schools of William Merritt Chase (Shinnecock on Long Island) and Charles Hawthorne (Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown MA) taught artists the Impressionist practice of painting plein-air, or in the outdoors, seeing how sunlight effects color. These schools were the influence of many American painters, encouraging them to see the true color of objects in nature.  “Block Studies” and the “Outdoor Still Life” are two teaching tools used to simplify and practice seeing lights effect on color and a way to prepare for the more challenging work of landscape painting.

In this class we will be painting simple still lifes outdoors with oil paints, learning how to see lights effect on color and how to mix and apply paint. We will look at examples of past and present painters who are “capturing the light” in their work.  This is a class for all levels or painters, those who have never painted before to the experienced painter looking to explore something new.

This class skips May 13th

Flip a switch and the entire world becomes the world of your imagination. In this course the emphasis is on interacting with the seen world, seeing what YOU see and interacting with it. Develop the process and allow yourself to see what you see AS you draw or paint and build your own personal LANGUAGE that comes out of living in the moment of your creations. It’s not simply about what you want to say but also about what is the work saying? Can y0u listen to its voice while you are working on it? Whatever materials you bring along for the journey are fair game. This class emphasizes process, experimentation, and the merging of the imagination with the visual world around us. You will build a personalized “mark and color toolbox” through exercises in line, rhythm, pressure, material exploration and more. Over time, you will learn how to trust your instincts, develop visual sensitivity, and cultivate a uniquely personal, meaningful practice..This class is for students who are ready to discover the core of their creativity and ready to develop a truly unique body of work.Open to all levels. Skills for success include curiosity and a willingness to explore.This is a mixed media class: oil, acrylic, wax pencils, oil sticks, pastels, charcoal are some of the possibilities. Painting on paper is encouraged as an affordable way to experiment. Canvas and panel and other materials are acceptable also.