ART & PHOTOGRAPHY   

Class Overview

Acrylic painting is an amazing medium which can provide a lifetime of enjoyment! In this intermediate class, you’ll learn how to express yourself and you’ll gain more advanced practice in the use color, proportions, composition, layering and glazing.

More experimental acrylic painting techniques will be presented as well, including palette knife, texture application, adding your own elements, and changing color schemes and composition of the painting. You’ll be surprised
how quickly your skills will improve by observing and painting along with step-by-step class presentations. Gain a new level of enjoyment in the medium by bringing even more variety and spontaneity to your art, and you’ll bring your paintings to the next expressive level!

This class will be presented as a live, interactive video (Zoom), which is more similar to an "in-person" class, because you get the benefit of seeing the art demos live, up- close, in real time just like in an "in- person" class and ask questions along the way. You can also paint along with the instructor!

Supplies Needed

Click here to see the supply list.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Better understand color mixing and be able to mix a wider variety of colors to add more interest to your paintings
• Use more “exotic” color schemes and the juxtaposition between warm/ cool, light/ dark, and pure/ neutral colors and how that can give you more variety in your paintings
• Utilize more experimental painting techniques such as palette knife, paint spraying, and texture application
• Practice glazing skills to add more layering and atmospheric effects to your paintings
• Understand how to use acrylic mediums to enhance the layered effect
• Combine and compose various objects and ideas into one painting
• Paint a variety of subject matter
• Increase the use of value, contrast, light and shadow to represent 3 dimensional form in painting (in black and white and in color)
• Incorporate drawing skills to enhance the composition of your paintings

Who Should Take this Class?

• Anyone who is interested in enriching their lives with the joy of painting!
• People who would like to improve their painting skills and apply those skills to paint a variety of subject matter
• Anyone who would like to learn to express themselves through the medium of painting
• Artists who would like to gain the foundational skills of painting to apply to any visual art medium in the future

Class Overview

Drawing is the fundamental basis of all visual art, and it can provide a lifetime of enjoyment! In Intermediate Drawing, you’ll begin to learn more advanced drawing techniques and subjects.

Practice drawing animals and people in motion, portraits, interiors and exteriors, vehicles, landscapes and anatomy. Additionally, you’ll have the opportunity to work in black and white, as well as color, through graphite and colored pencil.

You’ll be surprised how quickly your skills will improve by observing and drawing along with step-by-step class presentations, which make it easy to understand and put these techniques into practice. Once you learn these skills, you’ll find them becoming second nature, and you’ll greatly increase your ability to represent the world around you.

Supplies Needed

• Pencils (graphite):
  • 2B pencil
  • 4B pencil
  • 6B pencil
  • 8B (Optional)
  • Woodless Pencil (6B or 8B) optional
• Drawing paper pad - either 9"x12" or 11"x14"
• White vinyl eraser
• Mechanical eraser, or pink eraser on back of pencil (for detail erasing and drawing white lines on gray areas)
• 3-4 (variety sizes) Paper blending stomps (or paper towel/ tissues for blending, if you can't find these for first day)
• Pencil sharpener (preferably with shaving collector)
• Set of colored pencils (24 to 48)

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to: 

• Draw portraits, facial features, landscapes
• Depict complete objects and scenes in perspective such as vehicles, buildings, interiors, and exteriors
• Portray animal and human anatomy (including specifics like line of action, gesture drawing, body masses, hand, feet, and clothing)
• Draw animals and people in motion with a variety of action poses
• Continue to expand the ability to draw three dimensional objects 
• Use of proportions better
• Apply the use of atmospheric perspective in scenes and landscapes
• Have more understanding of color, layering, and transparent/ translucent media through colored pencil
• Maximize the use of value, contrast, line, mark making, and details to draw with expression

Who Should Take This Class?

• Students from Drawing - Beginning, though that is not required
• People who draw who would like to improve their drawing skills and apply those skills to draw anything they want in the future
• Anyone with some drawing experience, interested in enriching their lives with the joy of drawing 
• Anyone who would like to learn to express themselves through the medium of drawing
• Artists or anyone who would like to gain the foundational skills of drawing to apply to any visual art

Class Overview

Supplies Needed

Please have the items listed below ready before the class:

Paper:

Please note: the better the paper, the better your painting experience 

• Arches Watercolor Pad with the black and green cover -- be sure it is not Block! -- any size you choose. 
• Optional if the pad (above) is not available: 1 sheet (or more) of Arches Paper: 140#, 22x30", cold press. 
• NOT recommended: Strathmore yellow cover paper pad

Paint:

Transparent watercolor paint set - any brand, except Reeves.

Brushes:

• 1 (one) round pointed #10 synthetic watercolor brush
• 1 (one) sheep hair 2" Hake flat brush
• 1 (one) small cheap flat synthetic brush, max 1/2"

Learning Outcomes

• Create your own holiday cards
• Gain skills in traditional watercolor painting techniques
• Become familiar with watercolor painting tools and materials and how to use them
• Express yourself creatively through watercolor painting and card creation
• Create unique works of art

Who Should Take This Class?

• Anyone interested in learning watercolor painting techniques
• People who would like to make their own holiday cards
• Anyone wanting to explore their creativity and have time for creative exploration and expression

Class Overview

Would you like to explore new techniques, perspectives and images in your photography? Macro photography can help you gain exciting new perspectives that will transform your photos and activate your imagination and passion for photography.

Macro photography is extreme close-up photography, usually of very small subjects and living organisms like insects, in which the size of the subject in the photograph appears larger than life size. Skills for macro photography can be acquired with practice. In this class you we will explore what defines macro photography, how to find subjects, factors such as texture, color and contrast, and best practices for setting up your shots. We will also review equipment and technical considerations such as depth of field, aperture and light.

By taking this class, you will visualize the photos that you can take differently and can determine what level of precision you are striving for and how to achieve it. Learn to see light and images in a new way, as you never have before. Make your photos artistic and creative, qualifying as fine art or abstract images.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this class, you will be able to:

• Define macro photography 
• Understand best practices of how-to setup a macro shot
• Find subject matters (textures, colors, contrast) 
• Be familiar with the equipment and how close each piece of equipment can get you of your subject
• Understand depth of field, understand which aperture is the best to capture the feeling of the image 
• Know how to used light, in a close-up scenario: Were you position your light, what type of light is critical for macro photography

Who Should Take This Class?

• Anyone interested in textures and color in photography 
• Abstract art enthusiasts 
• Basic photographers looking to understand the limitation of your lenses / camera 
• People seeking a new creative challenge and perspective that captures your imagination
• All levels in photography are welcome thought it is helpful that you have a basic knowledge of your camera 

Class Overview

Enjoy learning how to combine the flowing beauty of watercolors and the vibrant color and detail of colored pencils all in multimedia art!

This dynamic combination of media can help you paint the most amazing pictures. Watercolors will help us create soft, flowing backgrounds and the detail of colored pencils will be ideal for adding fur, feathers, foliage, etc.

If you enjoy drawing or painting, and have not combined the two successfully yet, this class will help you see the advantage of combing them for great results. If you've used them together, but would like to improve your skills with this approach, this class will help you take your results to the next level.

Enjoy the stimulating effect of being part of a creative classroom and the guidance of a professional art instructor. Learn to get the most out of combining these two beautiful media!

Supplies Needed

Click here to see the supply list.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to: 

• Feel comfortable with watercolor techniques
• Be familiar with colored pencil techniques
• Understand the unique qualities of combining these two art mediums
• Be able to make a mixed media painting by combining these two media into one beautiful piece of art!

Who Should Take This Class?

• People interested in learning how to use watercolors, colored pencils, or mixed media
• Anyone who enjoys making art and would like to explore new techniques and media
• People familiar with these materials who would like dedicated time to focus on making art and the guidance from an instructor
• Anyone who would like a new creative outlet
• All levels welcome!