Painting and Drawing
Abstract Watercolor Exploration
Dawn Flores, Artist
Watercolors have the reputation of being the most challenging painting medium. The unforgiving white of the paper and the uncontrollable nature of water make this medium intimidating. Through a series of exercises, participants will learn how forgiving white paper can be and how to control water and pigment. Focusing on color and composition, participants will practice techniques while creating small and large abstract paintings. This class is designed to motivate every participant to love watercolors.
Audience: Recommended for high school through adult; adaptable for middle school
Enrollment: 15 participants
An Introduction to Drawing in the Manga — Anime Style
Anh Do, Faculty Member, Virginia State University
Do you love reading manga or watching anime, and wish that you could create your own stories and characters? This workshop is for anyone who is interested in drawing in the Japanese Manga-Anime style. Students are introduced to the techniques used by manga and anime artists to help transform their ideas into manga-style drawings. Some drawing experience is helpful, but not necessary for this workshop.
Audience: Middle school through adult
Enrollment: 10 – 20 participants
Botanical Watercolors
Dawn Flores, Artist
This workshop teaches basic watercolor techniques through exercises designed to help the participant understand the different color properties and improve brush control. Information on paper, paint, and drawing techniques used in botanical art will be discussed. Basic drawing skills are required to draw the botanical specimen from which you will paint an elegant botanical watercolor.
Audience: High school through adult
Enrollment: 15 participants
Drawing and the Art of Seeing
Rachel Sawan White, Art and Design Faculty, Orchard House School
Learn how to draw things as they are and not how you think they ought to be. Participants work through a series of exercises in contours, negative space, composition, sighting, perspective, and texture while learning how to more closely align hand and eye. Different drawing materials, techniques, and methods are investigated. This workshop works well for beginners while offering technical enrichment for the more experienced draftsman.
Audience: Middle school through adult
Enrollment: 5 – 15 participants
Drawing for the Rest of Us: An Introduction to Drawing
Anh Do, Faculty member, Virginia State University
If you can write, you can draw! Drawing is just another form of visual communication, a skill that can be developed by anyone. This workshop is an introduction to basic drawing tools, drawing warm-up exercises, and techniques that can be used to help you build a foundation to experience the joy of drawing.
Audience: Middle school through adult
Enrollment: 10 – 20 participants
Drawing on the Self
Dawn Flores, Artist
Throughout history artists have given us insight into their personal experience through the self-portrait. Whether the motivation was self-aggrandizement, self-investigation, or a cathartic release of emotions, self-portraits are fascinating and revealing. Participants will cultivate a strong sense of self, learn about drawing tools and pencil techniques, and develop basic drawing skills, while working on their own self-portrait.
Audience: Middle school through adult
Enrollment: 15 participants
Encaustic Painting & Mixed Media Lab
Karen Eide, Artist and Educator
Encaustic painting is an ancient process that dates back to 5th century BC. Pigmented beeswax is heated on a griddle and applied to rigid panels with brushes. The results yield luminous, richly layered work that has its own unique character. Students will learn classic encaustic painting techniques and explore how to combine them with contemporary processes, such as surface embellishment, image transfer, incising, collaging, and creating marks and images with oil paint, pastels, markers, and inks. It is an ideal complement or stand-alone process for oil painters, printmakers, collagists, sculptors, watercolorists, and other artists. So that students can continue their exploration of this versatile medium on their own, this lab provides information on supply sources, setting up a studio for encaustic work, safety guidelines, framing, and exhibition considerations.
Audience: High school through adult
Enrollment: 12 participants
Facilities needed: Pre-covered tables, up-to-date electrical, no carpets
Exploring the Mellon Collection: I Spy Through George Catlin's Eye
Donna Drozda, Painter, Author, and Educator
In this workshop, students study the paintings of George Catlin through slides and photographs. After learning about Catlin's interest in preserving and documenting the life and culture of the North American native tribes, students explore aspects of their own lives that they would most want to document and share with another culture, as Catlin did when he visited Europe. Students create tempera paintings on cardboard that reflect what they have learned and discovered.
Audience: 3rd grade through adult
Enrollment: 10 – 20 participants
Exploring the Mellon Collection: I Spy Through Herbert Haseltine's Eye
Donna Drozda, Painter, Author, and Educator
This workshop begins with I Spy with My Artist's Eye, a warm-up game that helps students see the world of nature through their "artist eyes." Through this exercise, students learn to identify an "artist's alphabet" of the elements and shapes found in nature. (A poster serves as a quick reference during the sessions.) Once the students have begun to use their "artist eyes," they explore Herbert Haseltine's animal sculptures through slides and photographs. Inspired by his work, they create an animal using the "animal alphabet." These drawings are transferred to watercolor paper and painted with watercolors and oil pastels using a resist technique. The finished work is mounted on a brightly colored card stock, which "frames" the piece. A dramatic finish (optional) is provided as the students use colored paper clips to join the squares to form a paper quilt.
Audience: 5th grade through middle school
Enrollment: 10 – 20 participants
Landscape Painting
Marjorie Perrin, Artist and Educator
How do artists capture the mood and light effects in landscape? In this workshop, participants explore how to use color and form to create an expressive landscape painting. A demonstration shows how to see color and simple shapes as a starting point and how to create atmospheric perspective and depth while developing individual styles. The class can be offered as an oil painting or a watercolor class.
Audience: High school through adult
Enrollment: 15 participants
Facilities needed: Easels and tables if class is held indoors (in which case students work from their own photographs). Class can be held outdoors if the weather permits and students have portable equipment.
Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
Kendra Wadsworth, Artist and Educator
Pull out those National Geographic magazines and bring the wild beasts to life, painting and drawing them on a large scale. In this class, students learn that they must pair close visual observation with an understanding of the animals' nature to paint a great likeness. It is the artist's expression of that nature that transforms representation into art. ROAR!
Audience: Elementary to middle school
Enrollment: 10 – 20 participants
Narrative Painting
Rachel Sawan White, Art and Design Faculty, Orchard House School
Explore the art of storytelling in paint. Drawing on artists such as Bonnard, Morisot, and Vuillard, students examine how composition, symbol, and context can tell an entire tale in one painting and create their own paintings from their own personal experiencences.
Audience: Adults
Enrollment: 12 participants
Oil Painting Basics
Marjorie Perrin, Artist and Educator
This class provides insight into oil painting for beginners starting out in oils to experienced painters developing techniques. During a demonstration of developing composition, participants discover the results of painting wet in wet and creating form with color. By understanding how the paints work, students will be able to translate what they see into finished oil paintings. Emphasis will be on employing a full range of techniques to create an expressive painting. Students can choose to work from their own photos or from still life.
Audience: High school through adult
Enrollment: 15
Facilties needed: Easels and tables
Painting; Color and Theory New
Rachel Sawan White, Art and Design Faculty, Orchard House School
The application and conceptualization of color are fundamental elements to painting. Join us for a day of experimentation with color: its behaviors, its challenges, and its joys. This is a great workshop for those wanting to delve deeper into color through paint – and have a great time painting, too.
Audience: High school through adult
Enrollment: 15 participants
Portrait Drawing in Charcoal
Marjorie Perrin, Artist and Educator
Discover how a portrait is so much more than simply recording proportions; instead, it can be one of the most expressive drawings you can create. Identifying the simple patterns and forms that are the basis for a well-designed portrait, students will learn through demonstration to use form, value, and line to develop expression. Students should bring a large photo (at least 8" x 10") from which to work. Photos taken in natural light with clear contrast are recommended.
The class can be taught with a live model if the statewide partner wishes to provide one.
Audience: High school through adult
Enrollment: 15
Facilities needed: Easels and tables.
Portrait Drawing in Oil
Marjorie Perrin, Artist and Educator
Discover how a portrait is so much more than simply recording proportions; instead, it can be one of the most expressive drawings you can create. Identifying the simple patterns and forms that are the basis for a well-designed portrait, students will learn through demonstration to use form, value, and line to develop expression. Students should bring a large photo (at least 8" x 10") from which to work. Photos taken in natural light with clear contrast are recommended. The class can be taught with a live model if the statewide partner wishes to provide one.
Audience: High school through adult
Enrollment: 15
Facilities needed: Easels and tables