Painting & Drawing

Drawing Intensive
Drawing & Painting As Meditation
Encaustic Painting
The Figure & Still Life
Painting Now: Color & Meaning
Plein Air Pastels
Portraits
Representation To Abstraction
WaterCOLOR
Watercolor Unleashed

Other Related Courses:
Encaustic Monoprinting
Graphic Novel

Drawing Intensive

Whether you draw regularly or haven’t drawn since kindergarten, this class will provide, in one solid week, a meaning-filled framework for tremendous growth in your drawing  ability. The techniques, tricks, and sequential exercises in this structured class can dramatically improve and give confidence to your drawing skills if you are new to drawing. If you have some experience, you can expect to be drawing at a whole new level of sensitivity and competence at the end of the class. Expect to work hard, learn a lot, and have a very good time. If you’ve always wanted to draw, or to draw better, this class is for you.

Returning students may choose to review or to embark on a week of more advanced drawing projects, based on your personal goals, to be worked out individually with the teacher.

All levels are welcome.

Tuition: $680
Lab Fee: $65 (Includes materials and model fee.)

Enrollment limited to 12 students.

We live in a fast-paced world with text messaging, cell phones and emails. When we want to relax, drawing can be a way to refresh our minds and body, to create just for fun anytime, anywhere. This class is about not only learning to draw and paint watercolors but also learning to make drawing and painting a meditation-a relaxed, conscious, and aware state that is optimum for creative experience-a state of restful alertness. Drawing, painting and meditation are beneficial for physical, mental, spiritual, and creative growth. You will learn to be mindful as you draw and paint. You will learn to perceive your world with clarity as you draw and paint. Without an agenda for success and the fear of failure, you will find that drawing and painting can become pure enjoyment.

Some of the benefits of this workshop are:

Improve drawing skill

Many new drawing techniques

New skill drawing & painting the figure with watercolor

Relaxed and focused attention

Finding your creative voice

Seeing with the heart and hand

A stillness of being and a sense of peace

Learning to see, truly seeing

Increased perception

Seeing space, line, form, and light

Drawing & painting without fear

Discovering your world at the end of your pen, pencil and brush

Present moment awareness

A sense of peace

Discover your artist within. Through a variety of fascinating subjects and methods-including a live model-you will experience how easy and enjoyable drawing can be in this new and innovative workshop.

Tuition: $490
Lab Fee: $68 (Includes model fee, a 12" x 9" drawing pad,  the book: The Practice of Drawing as Meditation, all drawing materials, handouts.) Wear comfortable drawing clothes.

Enrollment limited to 25 students. 

Encaustic Painting: Painting with Wax
Amber George
July 2-6 
Course # AAPE ØØ
One-week session

This workshop will introduce the ancient medium of encaustic painting to beginning and experienced artists. From the basics on how to prepare a panel for painting to more complex techniques like image transfers, collage and working with stencils, students will leave the workshop with a thorough set of skills. Also covered in the class will be tips for setting up a safe studio space to work with encaustic to enable students to work in the medium independent of a workshop situation. 

Each day will be structured to allow for a balance between demonstrations and work time. Individual and group critiques will allow for students to learn from each other as well as the instructor. Each student will be encouraged and supported to find and express their own artistic voice through this supportive workshop environment. Open to all skill levels, however a basic understanding of painting in general is very useful.

Materials: A complete materials list will be sent upon registration.
Tuition: $695
Lab Fee: $90 (Includes all encaustic paint, encaustic medium, beeswax, painting panels, electrical tools, torches and most other consumables.)

Enrollment limited to 10 students.

In this workshop the figure will be the subject matter, however the focus will be on improving drawing skills and seeing values and colors correctly and understanding their relationships to each other. Two days will be devoted to figure painting, and one to still life painting. There will be daily demonstrations emphasizing the big shapes and establishing their relationships correctly. This provides a springboard to adding additional information if the individual artist desires. We will address design and technique in a manner in which the individual artist may express themselves in a personal way. The student will experience many specific assignments, which helps to “get to the point a little more quickly.” Be ready to cover a lot of canvas and “learning through earnest mileage.” Students will receive plenty of one-on-one instruction and individual demonstrations as needed.

This oil painting workshop is appropriate for all levels. Pastel, acrylic, and watercolor painters welcome, but must be well-versed in using their selected medium. 

Materials: A complete materials list will be sent upon registration.
Tuition: $490
Lab Fee: $25 (Includes model fee and group supplies)

Enrollment limited to 15 students.

Painting Now: Color & Meaning
Marie Thibeault
July 9–13
Course # AAPC Ø1
One-week session

Accelerate your ability to discern and mix color, as well as experience new painting processes in this intensive one-week painting workshop. Designed to combine the best of her popular color and painting courses at CSULB, Marie will guide students through a workshop that will insure a deeper understanding of the workings of color as it pertains to painters. This workshop is certain to expand your understanding of color and its meaning within painting, since the most important aspects of color are defined and explored in the process of composition and revealed through process.

Students will begin by building collages, looking for and finding relationships in imagery, light, and color patterns. Personalized compositions will become the springboard for a series of paintings to be done during the week. Working in various scales from large to very small, each student will become more sensitive to how color creates light, space, focal point and meaning within a painted composition.

This exciting course will contextualize the most potent aspects of color within the history of painting, as well as the introduction of new concepts of collage process, composition, image development and the painterly processes. This class is designed for those who have some painting experience through professional painters. Oil paint is recommended.

Materials: A complete materials list will be sent upon registration.
Tuition: $680
Lab Fee: $15

Enrollment limited to 14 students.

In this outdoor workshop, students will use soft pastels on sanded papers. Stressing high contrast in all aspects of a landscape, the instructor will cover: choosing an enticing scene; creating the most powerful composition using a viewfinder; value sketching; and editing. Numerous outdoor demonstrations will show each stage from vivid underpainting to final detail work. There will be plenty of at-easel assistance. Each student will need a set-up for on-location work. Some pastel experience preferred, but not required.

Materials: A complete materials list will be sent upon registration.
Tuition: $490

Enrollment limited to 12 students.

This workshop will give students the tools and techniques to create believable and convincing portraits in oil with special emphasis on painting the head. Through demonstrations and exercises, Ray will guide artists of all levels through the fundamentals, including: 

• Measurements and proportions: discussion of various approaches to accurately  measure and view your subject in terms of abstract shapes

• Artistic understanding of the features, their placement and form

• Creating form and solidity with the head as a result of the sum of this knowledge and overall general shape and form

We will be covering lots of canvas and there will be lots of personal attention! Pastel and acrylic painters are also welcome, but must be well-versed in using their selected medium.

Materials: A complete materials list will be sent upon registration.
Tuition: $490

Enrollment limited to 15 students.

From Representation to Abstraction
Lisa Adams
July 2-6
Course # AAPA ØØ
One-week session

This one-week course, taught by renowned Los Angeles painter Lisa Adams, is designed to facilitate non-professional and professional painters alike  in discovering or honing their personal vision and in stimulating imaginary thinking.

With an equal emphasis on formal skills and experimentation, exercises focus on trusting the intuition, learning to see inward and the practice of seeing oneself reflected in the world at large. The task becomes how do we see our authentic selves in the external environment and how do we make this vision manifest in painting? At core we will be asking more questions than delivering concrete answers, all the while working on creating paintings that are well-crafted and clearly rooted in individual expression.

Using both representational and abstract elements is crucial in bringing to life a balanced view of the visual world and of one’s expression. Embracing and combining dichotomies, as a conceptual foundation, will be stressed as well as risk-taking-that is, working for the exploratory experience rather than creating nice tidy paintings that look good.

Informal talks will include such topics as the discipline of being an artist, the rigor of professional practices with regard to career and how to remain true to a unique vision despite market trends. A visiting guest will give short presentation during the week as well.

Participants must have basic painting skills, which include mixing paint and basic color theory, as well as basic drawing skills. Oil paint is recommended but acrylic paint is also acceptable.

Materials: All participants will need to bring a laptop and digital camera (or phone with camera), as well as their usual painting equipment. A list of suggested items to bring will be sent upon registration.
Tuition: $680

Enrollment limited to 10 students.

WaterCOLOR

Barbara Roth
June 28–30
Course # AAPW ØØ

Three-day session

Would you like to: Take the mystery out of mixing paint? Make better color choices? Understand simple color theory? Know why your color mixtures come out mousey? Place the right colors next to each other to create harmony? Figure out the right color mixes quickly? No matter if you are a beginning or experienced watercolorist, the information you learn about color in this workshop will bring your projects to a new level.

Participants will develop an understanding of the principles of color by creating easy small watercolor paintings and practice exercises illustrating each color concept. You will put together all your paintings, exercises and notes in a personal color notebook. Your notebook will guide you when you return home and have questions about color. Your instructor will demonstrate all techniques and you’ll have studio time to practice with your instructor standing by to help and answer all your questions.

Materials: A complete materials list will be sent upon registration.
Tuition: $490
Lab Fee: $10

Enrollment limited to 20 students.

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Watercolor Unleashed
Nicholas Simmons
July 16-18
Course # AAPW Ø2
Three-day session

This workshop will concentrate on concepts and techniques for which Simmons is noted: diversity in subject matter; composition; poured watercolor; fluid acrylic used as transparent watercolor; unusual textures such as the instructor’s popular “batik” technique; large scale painting; computer-aided design (computer not required for enrollees); and creative photography for obtaining unconventional reference shots. Focus will be on concepts, composition and design elements. Students will paint daily, watch demos, and receive individualized attention. Be prepared for Nicholas’ high energy, unorthodox, and varied approach to watercolor. All levels welcome in this workshop designed to bring lots of new ideas and techniques to experienced painters, and introduce new painters to the medium.

Materials: A complete materials list will be sent upon registration.
Tuition: $490
Enrollment limited to 20 students.

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Encaustic Monoprinting
David Clark

July 20-21 

Course # AAEM Ø2
Two-day session

This workshop is an exciting introduction to the techniques involved in producing repeatable images while printing with wax. The purpose of this class is to expose participants to a wide variety of paints, papers, stencils and tools connected to the encaustic monoprint process and to give students access to varied printing techniques that will allow them to fine tune their prints. Students begin first by learning the basics and variables of the encaustic monotype: heat, paint, paper and pressure. They then progress to layering color and pattern using different types of stencils and masking in order to further refine their printed images. Students can expect to create numerous prints during this class encompassing a varied range of technical and intuitive process. Come discover how much fun monoprinting with wax can be. This class functions well for a wide variety of skill levels in printing, but some previous experience working with encaustic is helpful.

Materials: A complete materials list will be sent upon registration.

Tuition: $335

Lab Fee: $80 (Includes all paints, papers and tools. Students will be given an allotment of a variety of papers to work with, and more paper will be available for purchase if you find that you are a very fast printer.)

Enrollment limited to 10 students.

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Graphic Novel
Dan Archer

July 16–20   
Course # AAWN Ø2
One-week session

From Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Maus to Alan Moore’s The Watchmen, graphic narratives have a unique capacity to tell complex stories through the simple combination of rich visuals and text. They have become synonymous with bold, innovative storytelling far beyond superheroes and encompass memoir, historical fiction, journalism, and more.

This course offers a balance between the hands-on and the theoretical, and will begin with discussions of several key graphic novels as well as an overview of this hybrid literary form. Students will then learn the necessary writing and artistic skills to turn their story ideas into a realized graphic novel extract. Welcoming both newcomers and those with experience, the course will examine each step of the creative process: scripting and narrative arcs; thumbnailing; pencilling; inking; scanning; and production. Students will then produce a short graphic novel extract, that they will be able to take with them in both hard copy and digital format.

Materials: A complete materials list will be sent upon registration.
Tuition: $680

Enrollment limited to 12 students.