As a practicing painter you may have heard the quote, “Value does all of the work, but color gets all of the credit!” Though this is true, in this workshop Bridget hopes to help students discover that color does a whole lot of work, too. The workshop will start with color definitions, discussion of the color wheel, and color-mixing exercises you can work on to improve your color seeing. Then students will advance to the practical application of these skills by painting a “block-in” of color notes for a simple still life. The second and third days will focus on understanding how the color of the light source affects your subject. Students will paint a still life under a warm light source and then paint the same still life again the following day under a cool light source to study color temperature. If you are intrigued by color and would like a few more tools to think about practical application of color in your work, Bridget would love to work with you. Some understanding of value will be helpful as value will be discussed, but the focus of the class will be on color.

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.

Deepen your understanding of color and put color theory to practical use. In this class we will explore various projects to boost your understanding and confidence with using and mixing color. Learn ways to alter chroma, the relative nature of color, color harmony, simultaneous contrast, and more through a combination of presentations, demonstrations, and assignments. Assignments will include color mixing exercises, and painting studies from still life objects and master works. Color I or a very basic understanding of Hue, Value and Chroma are strongly recommended. We will be using the Paxton Palette in oil paint. Limit 8 students.