Intuitive Painting and Collage

Part 1: Fresh Starts

The focus of this class is to learn how to create in a series by exploring surface, experimental painting approaches, and collage. Students will be encouraged to explore images and techniques that free the imagination. Application of water-based paint (acrylic, watercolor or gouache) will be explored in combination with image transfer techniques and collage. We'll start off by creating a variety of backgrounds for our painted and/or collage experiments. Emphasis is on bringing together inspiration from several sources. Materials can include: paint, drawing media, photographic imagery, digital imagery, found objects, organic material, cloth and three-dimensional objects.

(student artwork, Rita Diamantine)

Intuitive Painting and Collage

Part 2: Layering Surface and Meaning

This class is a 2nd part to "Fresh Starts". Though one is not required to take the first class, one should ideally come with some unfinished paintings, collages, or background surfaces. The emphasis of this class shifts to layering, adding personal content and creating compositions that work. Options for further imagery and embellishment include acrylic image transfers, stencils, stamping, and metallic leaf application. Use of various acrylic mediums will be further explored and demonstrated.

(student artwork, Jutta Reichardt)

Exploring Personal Themes in Mixed Media

This class will involve many mixed media techniques, with an emphasis on developing a composition of a personal theme.

For the first class, students will bring in source imagery that they'd like to explore which may include drawings or photographic sources. For example, subjects might include one's interest in insects, birds, botanicals, portraits or landscape elements, etc. We'll then explore a variety of ways to transfer and/or enlarge an image onto your canvas, paper, or panel surface. With a basic composition supplied by your chosen image, we'll then explore various surface techniques will add interest through sponging, scraping, pouring, or using pastes and gels to build up surface texture. Students will also be encouraged to incorporate collaged papers, monoprint techniques, stencils and metallic leaf application. Water-based paints used can include acrylics, watercolor, gouache, or latex paints. You may also wish to employ drawing media, digital imagery, found objects, organic material, cloth and three-dimensional objects.

To see images of works created from one of my mixed media classes, please view the following blog post,
Mixed Media Class Progress.

To view other options for classes that you may be interested in, view Class Ideas.

artwork by student, Jutta Reichardt

artwork by student, Linda Nagy