As the old saying goes, one must stop and smell the roses to gain an appreciation of life. We can apply this philosophy to art by painting common everyday objects in simple, elegant, and thoughtful ways. In this workshop we will cover:

• Mixing, calibrating, and applying muted and saturated colors in realistic still life paintings
• Blending and layering techniques specific to painting realistic still life
• Simplifying and rearranging objects to create painting compositions with more mediative and thought-provoking narratives
• Setup and photographing still life in your surroundings with the best lighting, detail, color, and composition to increase a painting’s success

We will produce 3 paintings in this class. More advanced students are encouraged to create paintings using their own reference. You can create paintings using the same references as Wayne’s demo or create paintings from your own references.

Both online and in person workshops will include painting demos, student work feedback sessions, slideshow presentations, and eye training exercises. These combinations of activities are designed to help refine your painting techniques and observation skills. Photo references will be provided for all painting assignments. Students are welcome to bring their own photo references for their own paintings.

In person workshops will have extended painting sessions. During these sessions, students will get one-on-one mentoring from Wayne.

Online workshop students will have access to download a video file of the painting demo to refer to so they can paint along at home at their own pace. There will be critiques at the beginning of some of the classes.

Online workshop students are responsible for knowing how to:

• Log into Zoom. Be sure to test this before the first class session.
• Send email or post photos of their painting to Wayne for feedback.

Workshop level: upper beginner to intermediate

Frequency of workshop offered: 3-4 years
Workshop was last offered: 7/ 2022

Materials list

Sample paintings for this workshop