Alla Prima Still Life Painting Metal + Glass Series (Online Course)
Dale Zinkowski
NEW FORMAT FOR WINTER, 2027
6 Sessions, 1 Thursday each Month – Tuition: $725
Dates: January 14, February 11, March 11, April 8, May 6, June 10, 2027
Critique Sessions:
11 AM – 1 PM ET – please adjust for your timezones
2 PM – 4 PM ET – please adjust for your timezones
6 PM – 8 PM ET – please adjust for your timezones
This class may be application based. Prior experience with oil painting is required.
More details provided when registration opens.
Artists who have previously taken this exact series with Dale will receive a discount.
*Plus approximately 24 hours of recorded demos. Access provided a week before each live class session. There is an assignment due the first class.
Limit: 5-6 students per critique timeslot
Notes:
- Students who sign up for the critiques & demos commit to the full series. There are no drop-ins for a particular month.
- Students who select Demos only will receive the demo recordings, images, and materials list but not access to critiques.
Take this class:
- if you’d love to explore how GCA methods can be utilized to capture ‘freshness’ in still life painting.
- if you recognize that painting quicker studies and paintings would benefit your overall skill set.
- if you appreciate the benefit of weekly painting iterations for strengthening all the painting muscles.
- if you have some painting experience.
Is this class for me?
- If taking the critiques class, you will compose and paint a different painting every week from life. This takes at least 4-6 hours of preparation and painting.
- Prior experience working with oil paints is required.
- Some drawing experience, especially in the Academic method, is always useful for painting classes at the GCA.
Class Format Notes:
- Pre-recorded demos are distributed weekly. The first demo is distributed the week before the first live class. Homework is due on the first class.
- 2 hour live critiques class.
- Students work on their weekly assignment outside of class time.
- Every online class is recorded.
- Critiques are only given during the live class time.
- Attendance at every live class isn’t mandatory.
- Absentee students can still submit their work at least 15 minutes before the live class starts and the instructor will critique the work during the class. The critique will then be viewable in the recording.
- Students receive access to the class recording within 24 hours of the class finishing. The recording gets posted into the google classroom.
- Access to the recordings is available for the duration of the class plus an additional 30 days. There are no extensions.
Class Tech Needs:
- The critique portion of the class will be conducted on the Zoom platform and is a live online experience.
- The critique sessions are recorded and made available so students can review critiques after each live session for the entirety of the class.
- The demos are pre-recorded and shared via private links on YouTube. You will need a YouTube account to access the videos and share the email address associated with the account with Admin.
- This class also uses Google Classroom to share resources. Watch this video for more insight.
- All of these services/platforms are free but require registration.
- It will be necessary for students to have access to a computer, tablet or smartphone. The recommended device is a laptop or desktop for the live portion of the classes.
“I have learned so much from Dale! He is such a generous and encouraging instructor. He meets each student where they are in their development and offers concrete help that not only leads to improving the painting being discussed, but to progressive improvement over the course of time. His demonstrations are inspiring (the paintings he makes for our benefit are stunning little gems), as well as deeply instructive. I am so grateful for all of it.” – Ruth
Course Description
Once a month, artists will complete a four-hour still life painting from start to finish. The series will examine how to combine a practical understanding of color, values, edges, and paint handling (without second guessing) with the goal of completing an aesthetic, naturalistic painting. There will be a strong focus on sound drawing, composition, and shape design.
There is a theme for each of the six parts of this series. Artists are encouraged to participate in the theme and embrace the weekly idea as simply or complexly as they desire.
Artists will receive the demos in advance. Each demo is a 4-hour video in which Dale discuss techniques as he paints. After watching the demo, students will work on compositions based on the month’s theme.
The demo series is also available a la carte for artists who do not wish to attend live critique sessions. The critique class is not available a la carte, students must sign up for the full six sessions.
Once a month on Thursdays from January to June 2027, Dale will hold critiques with only the students who signed up for the full course that includes the weekly critiques. During these sessions, Dale will discuss each student’s painting in depth and guide them in meeting their individual goals.
ALLA PRIMA – Glass & Metals Series
This Alla Prima series will spend the 6 weeks centered around painting both glass and metals. Students are encouraged to have not only the particular piece of glassware or metal, but something organic as well, such as fruits or food items.
January 14th: Half Empty or Half Full
In the first session, we will take a simple water glass, and fill it halfway, then see how we can incorporate the refracted effect that objects present when seen through the glass
February 11th: Silver Bowl
Getting the effect of silver is more than just black & white paint. We will discuss the warmth that silver presents and what best to use to represent it.
March 11th: Wine(d) Down
Whether your favorite wine glass has a stem or not, no matter, as the main focus this week will be how to get the deep red color, or beautiful yellow glow that wine gifts us.
April 8th: Solid Gold
Gold gives us colorful highlights, an incredible range of yellows to play with, reflections, and form turns, all bundled up in this precious metal. From gold leaf to golden bracelets, there is lots for us to mine in this one.
May 6th: Colored Glass
From the green of wine bottles, to the blue of vintage seltzer water bottles, there is plenty of color to go around. We will discuss chroma levels in colored glass, and how to keep the color fresh, while still thinking about form.
June 10th: Copper
There is nothing more satisfying than placing those brassy highlights onto copper. Look for the shiny stuff here, as we will be discussing the warmth of reflections, and how to compress those values in order to maintain color in the highlights.