Experience our full-time program in a week-long workshop.

Students begin by drawing a plaster cast or still life in charcoal, developing their ability to render accurate proportions and value relationships. As students progress, they are introduced to the fundamentals of oil and/or pastel techniques, composition and color.

Experience our full-time program in a week-long workshop.

Life drawing is at the core of any serious program of fine arts. In the class, students draw from the figure in pencil. Each drawing is created over a period of several sessions, developing the student's eye for accurate proportions, gesture and anatomy.

Want to work on your still-life skills? Would you like to learn to paint quickly and focus on problem solving? This class will focus on teaching you how to complete a small still life in three sessions.

In this 10-week class we will use a structured approach to create small  paintings in oil. We will spend three days per painting. Subject matter will be set up by the instructor and will be a range of objects including fruit, vegetables, metal, bone, crockery, fabric and other objects.

The approach will be working quickly and efficiently. Day one will consist of a small color study, drawing and a value block-in. Day two will be the color block. Day three will be finishing. We will plan on completing three still lifes in this fashion.

It is suggested to have some experience in drawing and/or painting. If you have questions about your experience level please reach out to the instructor to discuss.

One-day still-life studies

This class will be focused on one-day oil studies of still lifes in color. The student will begin each class with a quick 20-minute sketch of the still life in paint. The remainder of the day will be focused on color mixing, application, and manipulation of paint on the canvas using brushes or palette knives. Each week will be a new still-life setup in order to study new textures, colors and shapes. Studies, especially done in color paint, are the basis of all finished works. This class attempts to give the student more confidence in applying paint to a surface, relieving the fear of making mistakes in paint by making those mistakes and then correcting them. Only through experimentation with application of paint on the canvas do we learn to create different effects. We will also focus on quick adjustments to value, color, and drawing with differing brushes and mixing color on the palette or directly on the canvas. Some experience in drawing is recommended as much of the class will be in paint application and not perfection of drawing skills. All levels are welcome! This class will not be focused on completing a refined, finished piece but for practice, exploration and fun! This class will use only oil paint and not other mediums. Email Cassandra Ronning at cassandra.ronning@gmail.com for questions and suggested supply list.

This workshop introduces students to the essential principles and practices of painting the figure with a chromatic palette. Through a combination of lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on exercises, students will gain a deeper understanding of how to observe, interpret, and utilize color/value relationships to reflect the lighting, the complexion of the model and the environment accurately.

While the skill and knowledge gained in this workshop can lead to a more refined way of "finishing" a painting, the goal of this workshop is not in learning to develop a painting to a higher finish but to gain knowledge and familiarity of one's palette and its utilization. An open mind and willingness to experiment with paint application and color mixing are essential to putting the theories and principles introduced during the workshop to practice.