My Fall Classes at ASLD

Fall is here, and I look forward to seeing many familiar, and many new faces in my Art Students League of Denver  classes, which begin next week, right after Labor Day. For your convenience, I have listed the course descriptions below, with a link here to the ASLD website.

Just put my name in the search box for classes, and both classes below will appear.

Expect individual challenges in "Paint Your Vision", where I hope to encourage you to improve on your strengths and clarify your vision.

And come to enjoy and expand the colors you see and use in "Color Through The Back Door". You won't see the same way after this class. I have expanded the duration of this class from 8 weeks to 12, because there seemed to be so much I wasn't able to cover last year. But to make it more affordable, the class is divided into two 6 week parts.

  

 Painting Your Vision: Watercolor, Oil, and Acrylic Painters 

This class challenges adventurous, independent painters, giving you the opportunity to set and achieve your personal artistic goals. With technical assistance in your medium of choice, focus on improving your skills and meeting your individual goals in a friendly, supportive group. 

Mondays & Wednesdays, 9 am–12:30 pm | 

Sept 5, 2012–May 29, 2013 | Monthly ongoing 

$126 per month, $146 for non-members

Color Through the Back Door | Part 1: Working with Paper | Fall 2012

Dates: Sept 6–Oct 11, 2012

Times: Thursdays, 9 am–12 pm

Ability: Intermediate–Advanced Cost: $189 for 6 weeks, $219 for non-members Registration Deadline: 08/31/12 Materials: $10 materials fee | Part 2: Working with Paint | Fall 2012 Dates: Oct 18–Nov 29, 2012 (no class 11/22) Cost: $189 for 6 weeks, $219 for non-members Registration Deadline: 10/12/12 This two part workshop uses color theories from  multiple sources, primarily Josef Albers' "The  Interaction of Color". It emphasizes seeing and  expanding the range of what is seen, hence  developing mastery over color, and its use in painting. Students will come to  understand the relationships between colors  and discover color's expressive possibilities.  a series of structured exercises, students will learn how to brighten, dull, lighten or darken  colors by changing adjacent areas. Using a playful  approach to this complex subject,this class will give  students a greater command of their medium. Building on the experience of Part 1: Working with  Paper, in Part 2, students will explore color through  a series of structured exercises and mixing and  matching experiments in their paint medium of choice.

New Plein Air Paintings

Xcel Energy power station at 13th and Decatur Streets, Denver.  I've finally painted something which has intrigued me for years. This looks like something one would find on a space station. Mars, perhaps?

Tree Skeleton in the Betty Ford Alpine Garden, Vail, CO

Atop Vail Mountain

Along the Eagle River, Minturn, CO

Several of this summer's plein air  paintings. Each one is acrylic on canvas, and either 16" x 12" or 12" x 16". Paintings from Vail and Minturn were completed during my recent Plein Air workshop in the Vail Valley.

Minturn Magic

Lynn Feiger painting on her studio deck

Tim Alcock painting wildflowers

Nancy Ricca with her brand new pochade box

Elke painting atop Vail Mountain

Nancy, Tim and Suzanne painting along the Eagle River

Suzanne through a window screen

Suzanne's first experiments with gouache, en plain air

L to R: Nancy Ricca, Sandra, Tim Alcock, Elke McGuire, Suzanne Mills Kramer, and Lynn Feiger

In front of Lynn and Woody's home

Tim's foot and easel in the Betty Ford Alpine Garden

Last weekend, Art d'Elke and Lynn Feiger hosted my Plein Air painting workshop in Minturn, Colorado. We were blessed with mostly beautiful weather, spectacular scenery, more delicious food than most of us needed, and an unusually intense  camaraderie. All of the orange and pink clothing we are wearing in the photos above was pure coincidence, but possibly symbolic of the group spirit. Well, to be scrupulously honest, Tim did run to get a orange jacket from his car when the camera appeared.

We began our immersive experience with a cocktail party and a lecture about the challenges of Plein Air, and the many ways to create space on a two-dimensional surface.

Vail Mountain's challenge proved to be too many tourists. So many people interrupted me with requests to take their group photos that I questioned whether I might look like an"official employee" of Vail. Still, with such a breathtaking view, it was hard to complain.

Painting in the Betty Ford Alpine Garden, unfortunately cut a bit short by a sprinkle of rain, we were accompanied by a live, in person, NY Philharmonic Orchestra. They were rehearsing for a performance at the Vail Music Festival that evening, and played the entire morning just about 75 feet from our painting location.

And I was even lucky enough to come away with a few paintings of my own. I'll show them in one of my next posts.