Course Description

Originally developed in Antwerp in the 1600’s by artists such as Frans Snyders and Adriaen van Utrecht, the pronkstilleven was a subgenre of still life painting which emphasized elaborate compositions, abundant piles of varied objects and depicted all sorts of objects from fruits and flowers to musical instruments, cookware, fish and even live animals and human subjects.

One question which frequently comes up when looking at these paintings is how the artists were able to include so many perishable things since they only would have had a limited amount of time before they wilted or rotted.  In this class we will be looking at how to approach that very question.

In this workshop we will focus on creating a fully resolved still life painting in a direct manner which will allow for improvisation in terms of our composition and also allow us to make fully finished paintings of subjects which may not give us a lot of time to work with them.

We will skip the initial drawing and underpainting which many of us are used to doing, in favor of diving right in and building each element as we go directly with paint.  During the course of the week we will discuss painting light and form, color mixing, paint handling and many other aspects of painting and drawing.  We will also spend time discussing different ways to approach building a composition “on the fly”  as we go which will help to give us different options for how to approach different paintings once we are back in our own studios.

Students will be able to pick their own subject matter for their paintings, and can choose to paint objects which will remain stable for the entire week, or can choose subjects which will change more quickly.  As far as subject matter, the sky is the limit, so bring in whatever you would like to include in your painting!

This course is open to all levels and there will be instruction geared towards beginners and advanced students alike.