January 13, 2012  Color! Winter in the Northeast is a perfect time to hang out in the studio, experimenting with color. As beautiful as the winter landscape can be, we still long for the richness and variety of color around us. And when we paint we can “be” in as colorful a place as we create!

That’s what we’ll be doing starting Tues. morning, January 17, when  I’ll be teaching “Painting for the Absolute and Utter Beginner” at Silvermine School of Art in New Canaan, CT. Beginning painters will learn painting basics- how to handle the painting tools, and create a variety of painting effects. They’ll also experiment and learn about how colors “work”. Because colors have their own set of rules, a “do your own thing” approach to using them without knowing those rules often results in unwanted mud colors! So to have more success and enjoyment using color, color information is key.

To acquire painting skills, we’ll use two kinds of projects:

1. Non- representational (shapes and color only) and ,

2. Representational (the subject matter is recognizable).

A focus on color and shapes alone (1) keeps us connected to the pure expressive possibilities of the painting medium. It allows us more free and experimental use of color without the additional challenge of making a likeness. Painting from simple still life materials (2) develops skills in representing what we see and an understanding of the spatial impact of color.

The addition of representational skills allows artists greater freedom in the long run, because they open up our options. Once you learn how to capture the impression of spatial dimension by working from real subject matter, you’re equipped to choose the kind of painting that suits you best.  The most successful paintings combine skills in creating  representational illusion with an ability to use the pure emotional impact possible with color and paint.