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Paint the Colors of Spring Have fun plein air painting while you tour the hidden creeks and bridges, historical missions, gardens and coastline of the “American Riviera,” Santa Barbara, California. The climate is often described as Mediterranean with it’s sun-drenched beaches, Spanish architecture, palm trees and olive trees. You will study composition, light, color and value while painting Santa Barbara and the environs.
Above you see how I begin a plein air painting searching for colors and shapes. Below is the finished painting from the workshop. Beginners will learn how to plan a painting, make a simple sketch, mix colors, apply paint to the canvas and finish a painting. Intermediate and advanced painters will practice creating an interesting composition, capturing light and depth, solving problems and painting bright and bold. There will be a tour of Kathleen’s painting studio and a slide show. Each day of painting on location, there will be an instructor painting demonstration, individual instruction, critiques and lots of camaraderie. NEW FOR 2012! Make Mighty & Memorable Paintings Unleash your creativity in this studio painting workshop with award-winning California colorist, Kathleen Elsey. Her work is “mighty and most memorable” writes Josef Woodard, Southern California art critic. Energetically infused with vibrant hues, she explores themes of still life and interior spaces in a Fauvist Expressionist manner. In this workshop, you will use still life as a vehicle to see shapes, colors and light while applying concept, color and elements of strong composition to your painting. Beginners will work from simple objects while advanced painters will paint a more complex still life or interiorscape. We will have warm up exercises each morning, including painting our self portrait like a master. There will be daily demos, group critiques and individual instruction at the easel. This workshop is appropriate for all levels of acrylic painters. Oil painters and pastel painters who know how to handle their medium are invited also. Instructor will be painting with acrylic paint. Students, please bring your painting materials.
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Make Mighty & Memorable Paintings Join Kathleen Elsey in the bejeweled coastal town of Santa Barbara for a fun-filled painting workshop. We’ll work in the comfort of our sunlit studio with panoramic views of the beach and paint from still life, interior scape, and the ocean scape out the windows. In addition to painting simple still life and more complex interior scenes, we will practice making a beach painting. Bring a couple of favorite photos of beaches and we will transfer them into paint. We’ll have warm-up loosen-up exercises in the morning painting an emotion, a face or an abstract. The first day we will concentrate on mixing colors and keeping them bright and clean while making a “painterly” painting. The second day we will be capturing light and reflections and working with lost and found edges. The third day we will work on “seeing” (not thinking) what is before our eyes and translating those shapes and colors into paint on canvas. And the fourth day will be an in depth look at each of YOU individually, solving problems and finding your path. If you paint with passion, the real YOU will shine. Those of you who lean toward the abstract are encouraged to join us. There will be demonstrations, discussions, individual instruction and lots of camaraderie. You should join in because you will have fun, make friends and discover that there is no "wrong" way to paint. You will be a winner and go home with fabulous paintings.
We have a special opportunity to board the historic antique yacht "Ranger" for a private cruise of the Santa Barbara coast. A good friend asked me “what do you take to make such happy paintings?” |
Make Mighty and Memorable Paintings!
Studio Painting and Plein Air
Sponsored by the Chautauqua Institution of New York
July 9th – 13th, 2012 Four days 3:00pm - 5:30pm
Registration begins begins Monday, April 2 Chautauqua Institution ticketing office 716-357-6250.
I am HAPPY to be invited once again to the Chautauqua Institution to teach in the summer of 2012.“Inspire, Commit, Act” is the theme of week three. We will study what inspires us, how to get unstuck, and how to translate our ideas into paint on canvas. Discussion will include how to begin a painting, how to finish and how to know when we have accomplished our goals. Unleash your creativity with a vivified palette and bold brushwork resulting in paintings bursting with life. Have fun, believe in yourself and paint still life, paint plein air or abstract while cultivating new techniques and defining your painting voice. Minimum age: 15. For registration contact the Chautauqua Institution. Students bring materials on this list. If you prefer, a more descriptive material list is below.
“I hope you will join me because art is a lifelong challenge and a never-ending intellectual puzzle. You might not know where to begin and you will never be done. Making art is one of the most rewarding things you will ever do!” Kathleen
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Sonoma Plein Air Painting Workshop, Sonoma, Ca
Acrylic, oil & watercolor painters welcome
October 21, 22 & 23, 2012 $350
We’ll paint the best of Sonoma, searching the best old barns, the best mountain views, the best vineyards (and wines) and the best gardens to paint. In the historic old town of Sonoma, we’ll meet in our studio (just a couple of blocks from the historic plaza) each morning before heading out to paint the beautiful autumn color of Sonoma County. I believe learning should be fun, and you should do it at your own pace, in your own process. In this plein air painting workshop, we’ll work on technique, creating a colorful painting and applying the paint in a thick bold manner. All levels of painters are welcome to join us. Each student should be equipped with his or her own painting materials. Bring two gessoed canvases per day. You will need your own transportation to travel to a different painting location each day. Join the fun exploring the galleries and restaurants of the historic town of Sonoma. Ideas for Sonoma hotels is here. Please send your tuition and registration form to Kathleen Elsey.
NEW FOR 2012!
Make Mighty and Memorable Paintings – Studio Painting and Plein Air Painting
Peninsula School of Art Fish Creek, Wisconsin
September 24, 25, 26 & 27, 2012
Member Tuition $575 Non-member Tuition $600
This is my first year to be invited to the Peninsula School of Art to teach a four-day workshop for adults. This workshop will be studio painting with some plein air painting. Please visit PSA website for registration. This workshop is appropriate for acrylic painters of all levels and intermediate and advanced oil painters who already know how to handle their medium. I will be painting and demonstrating with acrylic paints.
Unleash your creativity with a vivified palette and bold brushwork resulting in paintings bursting with life. Since the hardest thing to see is what is before your eyes, you will practice searching for shapes, values and colors while recreating that vision onto canvas. We will use still life and interior scape as a vehicle to study composition, color and light. Instruction is offered thorough discussion, demos, hands on practice and individual help at the easel. Have fun and be fearless while cultivating new techniques and defining your painting voice. We will paint in the studio three days and outdoors one day (weather permitting). You may chose to spend more time painting outdoors if you wish. Each student provides their own painting supplies. If you have materials you know and love, bring them, or you can bring the materials I recommend on my material list. Please contact Kathleen if you have any questions about materials. Peninsula School of Art is providing you with this workshop opportunity, so please direct all registration questions to PSA.
There is no greater sense of freedom than getting lost in the time you spend making art.
2011 Past Workshops
Paint Everything! Studio Painting
Workshop
Santa Barbara, Ca. SOLD OUT
April 19, 20, 21 & 22
, 2011
Plein Air Painting Workshop, Sonoma, Ca
Acrylic, oil & watercolor painters welcome
October 16, 17 & 18, 2011 $350 SOLD OUT
Make Mighty and Memorable Paintings! Studio Painting and Plein Air Painting!
Sponsored by the Chautauqua Institute of New York SOLD OUT
August 15 – 18th, 2011
Plein Air Painting, Santa Barbara, CA
April 27, 28 & 29, 2011 SOLD OUT
Come prepared to loosen up, paint bold and create paintings full of your own spirit– and if you don’t have your own spirit, we’ll find it! You’ll learn more than you want to know about composition, light, color and value. There will be plenty of time for individual instruction, demos, group critiques and camaraderie. There are art stores in all workshop locations so no worries if you forget anything on your supply list. Santa Barbara has Art Essentials (805 965-5456). Taos has Artisan (505 751-0802). The town of Sonoma has Fine Line Art Supplies (707 935-3199).
Below are the acrylic supplies I suggest:
• Portable easel: I use a Soltec easel, and like the full Julian, both available at Dick Blick (1-800 828-4548). If you are joining me for studio painting, you are welcome to paint on the tables rather than an easel.
• For each day bring one small canvas (12 x 12 or 11 x 14 or smaller) for a quick study and two larger panels, canvases or canvas boards (12 x 16, 16 x 20, 18 x 24 or bigger). I paint on Masterpiece and Winsor Newton stretched canvas or linen. While traveling, you might consider canvas boards since they pack together so efficiently. Another compact and inexpensive support is a pad of real canvas sheets. The 16 x 20 size would be a good size for our workshop especially if you are traveling. I paint on one piece of canvas, tear it off, then begin the next painting while the first canvas sheet dries. Or bring sheets of canvas or linen that you cut to the size on which you wish to paint. At some point, if you want to frame your work, these canvas sheets will need to be stretched or mounted to a rigid support. These are especially effective when painting with acrylic which dries fast. I like to add additional gesso to my canvases with Golden gesso or NovaColor gesso. This additional good quality gesso seems to make the paint really stick. If you’ve ever had a problem with your acrylic paint feeling too slippery on the canvas, try a coat of good quality gesso on top of the manufacturer’s gesso.
• Palette: My newest favorite for travel is the Mijello Atelier Airtight, peel off palette. It is very compact, easy to open and easy to hold in my hand while I paint. It only has a 5” x 9” mixing area so I use the palette’s lid as an additional palette to mix my colors. When using fast drying acrylics en plein air, I use the largest Masterson sta-wet palette (12 1/2” x 16 1/2”). I like this palette because it seals up after a painting session, and the paint stays moist for weeks.
My Masterson Palette after a couple of days painting My painting after about 45 minutes of painting, dividing the space on the canvas and making shapes Finished painting. • Brushes for oil or acrylic: 3 or 4 ”brights” (short stiff bristles) size about 1" across, 3/4", 1/2", 1/4" depending on canvas sizes. I would use the 3 larger sizes above if I were painting an 18 x 24 canvas. If you choose bigger canvases, get the big brushes. If you chose 16 x 20 canvases or smaller, you could use the smaller 3 brushes above. Buy good brushes or you'll regret it. My favorite brand is Isabey Special 6087 Pures soies France. I also like Isabey 6562 Isacryl. They have performed well for me and have lasted longer than any other brand of brushes I have painted with while using acrylic. Of course, I clean them fanatically and will teach you this also. Another good choice (not quite as expensive) is Artisan with the silver handle, also very good for acrylic painting. It is this kind of "brights" that give my paintings somewhat of a palette knife effect. Brights make short, crisp strokes and place color and paint well. I always buy my brushes from the art store rather than online so that I can feel the brush, check the "spring” in the bristles, see the color of the bristles and choose the width of bristles that I need.
• Paints: I love Winsor Newton's new Artists' Acrylics in 2 oz. tubes. They are buttery, dry a bit slower than other acrylics and they have so much pigment in them that they dry the same color as they look when wet! What you see while painting is what you get when dry! I also like Golden for it's viscosity, quality and brilliant colors. Liquitex is also very fine quality and has some beautiful colors not available in other brands. If you can afford it, pass on the student grade brands of paint and buy what the professionals use.
Acrylic Paints -- Beginners and minimalists need seven colors
• Titanium white
• Cad Yellow Light
• Cad Yellow Medium
• Cad Red Deep or Alizarin Crimson Hue
• Cadmium Red Medium
• Ultramarine Blue
• Cobalt or Cerulean Blue Deep
• If you can’t resist a couple more colors, add in Yellow Ochre and Cobalt Teal. And if the sky is the limit, go for Dioxazine Purple, Green Gold, Jenkins Green, and Red Oxide.
Oil Paints -- I suggest a basic palette of seven colors. I use Winsor Newton unless otherwise specified.
• Titanium White– large tube
• Gamlin Cadmium Yellow Light or Winsor Cadmium Lemon
• Cadmium Yellow Deep
• French Ultramarine
• Cobalt Blue or Cerulean Blue
• Alizarin Crimson
• Gamlin Cadmium Red Light
• Walnut Oil –not the cooking type. I like this medium. It is acceptable to most lungs.
• Two more of my favorites are Yellow Ochre Pale and Gamlin Radiant Turquoise. And if the sky is the limit, try Permanent Magenta, Venetian Red, Violet (Dioxazine), Viridian and Raw Umber Light.
Optional Supplies to bring:
• Golden retarder in bottle to slow down the fast drying acrylic paints especially for plein air (optional)
• If using Golden “open” (slow drying) acrylics, be sure to get a bottle of “open” thinner.
• A paint tarp to put under your easel if you are “drippy” when you paint in studio workshops.
You Will Learn To:
• Get started painting
• Have a reason for painting
• Think creatively
• See shapes, colors and value
• Be expressive
• Loosen up
• Paint thick and bold
• Make a bright painting
• Make interesting brushwork
• Create an exciting composition
• Simplify complicated compositions
• Solve problems in your paintings
• Stop trying to be perfect
• Use your eyes and not your brain
• Critique your work
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Kathleen Elsey at Taos, New Mexico painting workshop. Click on photo above to see the finished painting.
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“I am understanding more about the process now after watching you paint-aloud. Your spirit and attitude toward painting is contagious. I caught some of it. Thank you so much for your constructive comments. You made me feel like an artist and made me want to keep my sketchbook and camera at hand.”
Shawn from Carlsbad, California
“Kathleen.....Your workshop was a wonderful experience, especially the demonstrations and your generous sharing of so much information. All of this was really appreciated by ME, a true novice painter.”
Susan from San Clemente, California
“I am a beginning (very beginning) artist who stumbled upon your website today. There is not one piece of your art that fails to fascinate or call for further study. You and Charles Sovek are an inspiration to anyone who enjoys art and color. Thanks for your website and your inspiring art.”
Ted from Georgia
“I found Kathleen Elsey's acrylic and oil painting workshops with a Google search, loved her paintings and took a leap of faith to join her in Santa Barbara, California. It was well worth the time, travel and expense for this Fauve experience. Where do I sign up for the next one?”
Nancy Standlee, Texas Daily Painter and workshop instructor
“Obviously, since I've taken four workshops and plan to do more, I LOVE your workshops and the way you paint. You inspire me!”
Jennifer from Santa Barbara, California
“Thanks for the wonderful three-day workshop. I am taking a break today, but keep staring at my paintings and thinking of things to do to make them better. You are a wonderful teacher and it is always such a treat to spend the time with you and our fellow painters. We all learn so much not only from you but from one another in the creative environment that you provide for us.” Susan Whisenand, Santa Barbara
“I cannot tell you how many times I have reflected on this past weekend with such warm and positive thoughts. Your inspiration and instruction was superb. I feel like I really made so much progress in just 2 days! Thank you so much for such a wonderful experience.”
Marcia from New York
“As for the rougher stuff, aesthetically speaking, Kathleen Elsey’s painting exerts a bold, almost post-Fauvist-meets-funk touch in her work. “Sunlit Room,” for one, flirts with burly Van Gogh effects, with a vivified palette and brusque brushwork. It’s the mightiest and most memorable piece in the room, says this unavoidably subjective observer.”
Josef Woodard, Santa Barbara News Press Correspondent
“Elsey’s landscapes are marked by rich colors and dramatic brush strokes that recall both Impressionist and Fauvist traditions”
Daedalus Howell, San Francisco Chronicle Journalist
“Thanks so much for your April workshop. What a wonderful experience – I learned so much, and I’m committed to painting/experimenting with color at least a little every week. Your paintings, of course, are a great inspiration, and your coaching/teaching style was so instructive and encouraging. Thanks for making my life more colorful.”
Marsha Conners
“I participated in a show in Sausalito and included three paintings I did in your Sonoma workshop – a shot in the arm for me. The group was terrific, and your gentle guidance helped me make a leap in a direction I doubt I would’ve tried on my own. Those remain the brightest of my paintings, and 2 of them sold at my show. Many of my paintings show evidence of your “colorist” influence and that’s a wonderful thing to take from the class. I love the flexibility I now feel to work in either acrylics or oils.”
Elaine from Sausalito, California
“Thank you for an amazing workshop! Your choice of locations and your fabulous demonstrations will keep me coming back for more. The beauty and magic of Taos lingers on! Count me in for next year.”
Mary from Wisconsin
© 2012 Kathleen Elsey. All rights reserved. All paintings are property of Kathleen Elsey
and may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of Kathleen Elsey.