August 21-23 – “Painting the Coastal Landscape” is tailored to take advantage of Nantucket’s unique environment. I will begin each day with a demonstration and the students will then apply what they’ve learned to their plein air landscape paintings. Participants in this informative and enjoyable workshop will learn new ways to approach the landscape.

Light, atmosphere, form, and texture are key elements in landscape painting. We will address how these elements can be interpreted through color, tone, and paint application to create paintings that convey a sense of three -dimensional reality. 

As Nantucket is surrounded by water, we will be examining its visual qualities— transparency, reflection, and movement.   I will demonstrate ways to interpret those qualities with paint on canvas. Incorporating boats into a coastal painting is often challenging.   With their compound curves, boats are difficult to draw and paint so that they float in the water convincingly. I have developed methods which help students analyze the shape of a boat and apply that analysis to any vessel in order to portray it with accuracy. A special focus will be on ways to create dynamic compositions and more accurate drawing by using the sight-size method of painting landscapes.   This method was developed in the classical drawing academies for figure painting, but I have adapted it to landscape painting.   

This workshop is appropriate for advanced and beginner painters in oil or acrylic. As the class size is limited, there will be plenty of time for group and one-on-one instruction.

Tuition: Member $585, Non-member $645.