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Drawing & Sketching for Beginners

Painting from Photographs

The Art of Sketching on the Go

Drawing in Colour

Master Class in Portraiture

Landscape Painting En Plein Air

Clay Studies

Advanced Painting Techniques

Drawing for Beginners

Digital Photography

Approaches to Painting

Drawing & Sketching for Beginners

This workshop is designed for beginners and those wishing to improve their drawing skills and refine their understanding of visual language. Using pencils, conté, charcoal and pastels, you will learn fundamental techniques such as line weights, shading and highlighting. This condensed program will help students become confident with the basic tools of visual expression and provide a good foundation to further studies in painting.

Painting from Photographs

Learn how to work from your photographs, to paint expressive and believable images, by going beyond the flatness of 2-D. In this week long, intensive class, students will improve their technical painting skills. Composition, colour theory and mixing, and how they apply to painting techniques will be emphasized. Students paint in acrylic. A photo, of the student's choosing, should be brought to the first class.

The Art of Sketching on the Go

This workshop is designed for those wishing to improve their drawing and sketching skills while out in the field. Students will visit outdoor locations and galleries to sketch and record varied subject matter. Students will learn and refine fundamental techniques such as line weights, shading and highlighting and discover which details are important to capture in their subject matter, as a stand alone piece or as a first step to painting. This program will help students become confident with the basic tools of visual expression and provide a good foundation to further their studies in drawing and painting. Please note that gallery entrance fees are the responsibility of the student.

Drawing in Colour

Pastels are one of the most immediate and satisfying mediums to work in. They can produce intense, vivid colours or soft and subtle shades and were also used by many famous artists including Renoir and Degas. A great introduction to colour, for people who are contemplating a painting course, this program is guaranteed to take your drawing abilities to the next level. Pastel is a crayon-like medium that combines the best qualities of drawing and painting. It is an expressive medium, which will allow for a more satisfying drawing experience. Working from photos and still life, students will develop their understanding of colour theory, harmony and composition. No previous experience is necessary.

Master Class in Portraiture

Live and accurate portrait painting or drawing is the greatest challenge an artist can face. To paint a person clearly and simply, with beauty and strength, to paint the humanity inside the person through their outer body is the hardest and greatest goal. To render with the skills of past masters while still feeling fresh, to capture a portrait that feels like it is alive and full of intelligence and emotion, is to jump into the world of the great artists of times past. The only pre-requisites for this course are a serious work ethic and a sincere desire to learn. There will be a one-hour lunch break each day. Students provide their own lunch.

Landscape Painting En Plein Air

This is a wonderful opportunity for painting enthusiasts to learn how to paint outdoors, from nature. To accurately paint light and colour effects in landscape renderings, artists must learn to paint directly from life. Students will learn to focus on the important details of the subject, to maximize painting time outdoors and create successful pieces of art. Plenty of demonstrations and one-on-one critiques will be provided as students paint daily on location. Each student must provide their own portable easel, as well as their own transportation. A digital camera would also be helpful to take reference photos. In inclement weather, an indoor location will be arranged.

Clay Studies

Join in the experience of expressing yourself through clay. Discover the stress relieving qualities this tactile medium has on your well-being. Students will learn techniques such as pinching, coiling, slab construction and modeling. Along with clay building, students are encouraged to experiment with exciting glaze combinations on either functional or sculptural pieces. No previous experience needed.

Advanced Painting Techniques

In this intensive painting course, students will study and reproduce a painting from the subject matter of their own choosing. This week long workshop is designed to help students to determine and refine their method of painting. Plenty of one-on-one guidance and critiquing will be provided, in an effort to help artists identify and best resolve problem areas in their painting. This course is best suited for students who have some previous drawing and painting experience. Students will work in acrylics and should bring a photograph of their choice to class.

Drawing for Beginners

This workshop is designed for beginners and those wishing to improve their drawing skills, as well as refine their understanding of visual language. Using pencils, conté and charcoal, students will learn fundamental drawing techniques such as line weights, shading and highlighting. This condensed program will help students become confident with the basic tools of visual expression.

Digital Photography

In this course you will learn how to effectively capture and manipulate digital photos to achieve imaginative and artistically compelling images. Through in-class exercises students will learn basic photographic skills such as framing, lighting, composition, image manipulation, and alternative and experimental capture techniques. Class exercises will be accompanied by a field trip in which students will learn to practically employ the techniques and concepts learned in class. Basic image manipulation, formatting and editing will also be covered.

Approaches to Painting

This class will help students further define and develop their approaches to painting, under the guidance of a professional artist. Through lessons geared at refining perceptual skills, drawing as the foundation for painting, paint application and colour comprehension, students will begin to feel comfortable with painting as their medium of choice. Still life, photos and existing images will be utilized and students can paint in their choice of oils or acrylics. This course is suitable for those with previous drawing experience.