Did I ever tell you about my brief career as an aerobics instructor? It was back in the early 1980s, when the unemployment rate in my hometown was double-digit and I was desperate for work. I borrowed a cute pink leotard and leg warmers from my cousin, but nothing was going to give me Farrah Fawcett’s hair or Richard Simmons’ exuberance.
The music was awful, but as a student I was used to hearing it only for 45 minutes at a time. Instructors hear it class after class. I lasted exactly one evening.
My friend Catherine asked me to teach an art class around the time my youngest (now 28) was a tiny tot. It was a much better fit. We started in my finished third floor, a table running down the middle and me smacking my head against the rafters each time I stood up straight. A year or two later I moved my studio to the landing. I taught figure and drawing and painting there to students of all ages. Ten years ago this month, I bought this house and moved my operation to midcoast Maine.
I taught weekly classes here until COVID shut me (and everyone else) down. Today I suppose you can learn anything on Zoom but in 2020 it wasn’t such a widespread idea. I’m grateful Mary Byrom wore down my resistance, because I think Zoom art class is as valuable as in-studio art class, and it reaches everywhere.
A workshop where it’s warm
I’ll be teaching Canyon Color for the Painter at the Sedona Arts Center in Sedona, AZ, March 10-14. I can think of lots of good reasons to take this workshop, including the incredible landscape, the fine organization and my own chops as a plein air teacher, but here’s the most important one:
It’s warmer in Sedona than it is up here in the north. Zoom student Julie Hunt told me it was -13° F in Alberta, CA yesterday. It’s 7° F here in Maine. Meanwhile, in Sedona, it’s 70° F.
This workshop is all about color theory. That isn’t just a collection of truisms like warm-vs-cool. Color is the cornerstone of painting. We’re going to drill down and really master color and mixing in our week in the high desert. Plus, by now I know all the best places to paint.
I hear from the organizers that this class is filling up, so if you’re interested, contact them soon.
A Zoom class on design
“How can I take my students beyond basic drawing to a more complete sense of design?” I asked Laura. Just because she’s on maternity leave is no reason to not pepper her with questions.
Design and drawing was our answer, designed to take you past the basics of measurement and perspective to concepts like focal point, composition, abstraction and more.
All design rests on line and contrast in value, chroma and hue, but value is the most important. For this reason, I’m designing this class to be done in graphite or charcoal. However, there’s no reason a person couldn’t do the exercises in paint. Or both.
Beyond realism
I really have some hot painters in my classes right now, and my current goal is to push them beyond faithful rendering to a new language of expression. To this end, we’ve done composition experiments, color experiments and more. In the next session, Beyond realism to expressive painting, we’ll continue to build on that idea. You don’t need to have taken the prior class as long as you’re an experienced painter.
A word to the wise
I can never tell how many people will enroll in my classes. I won’t take more than 15 or fewer than six. However, both classes were sold out last session, so if you want one of them, you should register soon.
If you have any questions, email me.
Reserve your spot now for a workshop in 2025:
- Canyon Color for the Painter, Sedona, AZ, March 10-14, 2025
- Advanced Plein Air Painting, Rockport, ME, July 7-11, 2025.
- Sea and Sky at Acadia National Park, August 3-8, 2025.
- Find Your Authentic Voice in Plein Air, Berkshires, MA, August 11-15, 2025.
- Immersive In-Person Fall Workshop, Rockport, ME, October 6-10, 2025.
