| The following is a list of classes to be offered once all the preparations and alterations have been made at my studio. Hopefully we can be up and running sometime before mid summer 2010. Class sizes will be limited to 5 students due to limited parking. Classes may be taken in any order. Though there are benefits to taking some classes in order. If in doubt, please ask. No prior art experience is necessary for any of these classes...Come experience something new and have some fun. There will be more information made available both here on the website and through the local paper in the spring Hope to see ya soon. Doug |
| Classes |
| Perspective Drawing: Ok, admittedly this is a challenging process. But if you want to create believable drawings and paintings, you need to have a basic understanding of perspective. Understanding the perspective grid and how to use it will help you in creating a 3 dimensional look on a single dimensional surface. The class will be painless. All you really need to understand are the basics. We'll do several drawings together with the grid and then without the grid. A basic understanding of perspective will greatly change the look of your drawings. |
| Basic Drawing: Understanding shading, volume, cast shadows and reflected light, using basic shapes. Then learning how to use basic shapes to help structure your drawings. |
| Sketching: Paint with a pencil. Using a pencil, a couple of erasers and a paper towel learn a technique that uses little or no line work. Most sketches progress from light to dark but in this class you'll be starting with a field of graphite and coax out images working the tonal values from dark to light. This is a very fun and simple technique. (See samples of the Sketching technique) |
| Brush painting with Shiva Paintstiks: This is a very easy way to approach painting. We'll be using stiff bristle brushes, the result is very impressionistic. When applied with a brush, Shiva Paintstiks dry quickly. |
| Painting with Shiva Paintstiks: This is a very interesting medium and is what I use to create most of my images. It's very creamy and blends easily. Despite it's reputation for being challenging, with a little direction you'll be on your way to painting with this unusual but fun medium. |
| Process Painting: Ok, fasten your seat belts cuz it get's a little bumpy from here! Come explore the "Process" of creativity. This is where your painting tells you what to paint. In this class, you'll start with no intent, applying paint and texture in any fashion you wish. Your job is to carefully watch and be open to what ever happens, fine tuning the good stuff as you see it. This is not neccesarily a fast, careless, "My kid can do that" technique, you may need to study and search out the possibilities of each of your actions. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It's all about the process. |
| Dry Point Etching: After taking this class, you'll actually be able to say "Come up and see my etchings". Learn this age old technique and create a small edition of prints. Dry point etching is the process of scratching an image into a metal plate. Using an etching needle, burnisher, steel wool and sandpaper, you'll create an image on a copper plate then ink the plate and print an image...Drawing skills will be very helpful in this process. |
| Mono Types: This is truly a fun form of print making...You'll use Shiva Paintstiks as well as print inks on plexiglass plates to create your image then run it through the press and print your piece. You'll work the image with the sticks, a brush, a rag, your fingers...it's up to you...Drawing skill will be helpful but not necessary in this process |
| Linocuts: This is a process that requires the use of sharp tools and great care must be taken when working in this print medium. You'll be carving your image from a flat piece of linoleum, inking the surface and creating a print by running it through the press. |
| Sampler classes |
| Drawing: A touch of the perspective grid, a taste of basic drawing and a sprinkling of a painterly sketching technique. This is a great place for you to start. If you're the one who always says, "I can't draw flies". Well, I can help with that. |
| Painting: We'll start with Shiva Paintstiks then Shiva Paintstiks with a brush and rags...then we'll take a deep breath and do some process painting. When it's over you'll be ready for a little mustache and a barrette. |
| Printmaking: Because the print process is a relatively slow process we will only be dealing with Monotypes and Etching. Linocuts are not something you want to race through in limited time...I have a strict "No severed arteries policy", so a demonstration will have to do. |
| Other Classes TBA Papier Mache' Foam Sculpting |