Course Description

Learn to think like a painter and bridge the seemingly separate skill sets of drawing and painting.  This class accommodates all styles of painting with exercises devised to strengthen techniques applicable to alla prima painting (single day painting), long form direct painting, and indirect painting. Drawing for the Painter is designed to be adaptable to all experience levels. Artists can work entirely in graphite, charcoal, or paint, or a combination thereof. 

A six week investigation of practical exercises and demonstrations in the craft of picture making will guide the student in making more confident, intentional and informed drawings and therefore, better paintings. These exercises include, but are not limited to, strategies for blocking-in quicker, compositional thumbnails, learning to observe and reproduce convincing shadows, considering resolution as a function of brush stroke size, and maintaining consistent scale and proportion.

If you have never painted before, this class will change the way you think about drawing in anticipation of the painting experience. And if you’ve painted for months or years, this class will bring you back to your drawing practice in a more strategic way.

In class sessions last two hours with one hour lecture & demo and one hour critiques. On average, the curious student can expect to spend 2-4 hours outside of class on assignments each week. The invested or dedicated students can push the exercises further and thereby spend more time weekly on each assignment.