November Classes--The End of an Era

As I announced previously, I've decided it's time to move on to some other things, so I'm not planning to teach any more weekly classes next year. As far as I know, these will be my last three classes. Hope you can join me!

November 2011 Classes

November 3— The Mesa (and Volcanoes)

The low growing bushes and grasses, and various colors of rock surrounding the old volcanoes on the west side of Albuquerque are a special subject to me. We’ll examine how to paint the mesa and the beautiful sweeping vista beyond. Look for your own resource photographs of this area to use for paintings.

photo (c) Larry Seiler

November 10— Moving Water

Let’s look at the rhythms and colors of splashing water as it moves over rocks. Find a photo that inspires you to paint, with good color, contrast and interesting shapes.

November 17— Clouds and Skies

What better way to end 23 years of teaching than with my favorite subject? We’ll review beautiful clouds, luscious grays, the light of the sky and how to achieve clouds that float.

Please contact me to reserve your space in these classes now.

 

October 20- How to Make a Lousy Photo into a Wonderful Painting

I'm no photographer and maybe you aren't either. I usually end up with four different kinds of shots: the really horrible ones that might as well be thrown away; the occasional winner, that probably should just be framed; a certain percentage that are okay and seem like they can be used for paintings just as they are, and all the rest that are pretty awful but are too good to throw out. 

That last type is what we're going to look at this week. These awful photos usually have some promising elements, parts that could become an interesting painting, but miss somehow.  Maybe the composition is blah, needing a little tweak, or the color is dull and needs some oo-la-la added to it. Perhaps you took it from a moving car and the foreground is blurred, or it reminds you of the time and place and is your only shot, so you want to make it work.

I’m going to share several of my own relatively awful landscape photographs with you and discuss how we could go about making them into good paintings. We'll look at how you might use elements from different photos to improve the composition, or add ideas from your own experience or memories to make the painting more successful than the photo. You can use any subject, of course, but because I've worked in the landscape for so long I'll be examining that.

 

Look through your photos for some awful inspiration of your own. If you have multiple shots of a subject, or a series of the same subject taken at different times, bring them along. If you have only one photo, that's okay too. Bring along a sketchbook and pencils or whatever you like to use to draw, so you can do some preliminary sketches. Any size or color paper is fine, any medium will work.

As always, the class is $25.00 payable at the door.  The studio opens about 11:00, and class is from 11:30-2:30.

Please RSVP <---(clickable link) if you haven't signed up already. Because these are my last few classes (ending on November 17th) I've had a little more participation, and our space is limited. If I know you're coming we can arrange things so everyone has enough room. Thanks.

 

See you Thursday!

Deborah