Search Results for: focal point

Zoom Class: Fresh Eyes (Critique)

Tuesday evenings, 6-9 PM
April 14-28

Fresh Eyes: 3 Sessions of Critique

Every artist eventually hits a wall where they can no longer see their own work clearly. Formal critique is the most effective tool we have to break through those plateaus—it isn’t about subjective “likes” or “dislikes,” but about the disciplined, systematic analysis of a painting.

Students will bring work they’ve done on their own for analysis within the group. If you’ve never experienced a formal critique, this 3-session series is the perfect entry point. As a group, we’ll put our minds to the problems you’ve been struggling to solve alone. This shorter format is also an ideal way to test-drive a Zoom-based class.

The Framework of Analysis

We bridge the gap between intuition and technique by looking at your work through the lens of the core design elements:

Focal point
Line
Value
Color
Balance
Shape and form
Rhythm and movement
Texture (brushwork)

These elements transcend style. Whether your work is representational or abstract, we will look at how these forces are working together—or what might be blocking the full expression of your idea.

The Outcome

By the end of the third session, you will have a clear, actionable roadmap for your current pieces and a more “educated eye” for your future work. You’ll walk away with the ability to self-critique your paintings with more confidence and less frustration.

Zoom Class: design and drawing

Mondays, 6 PM – 9 PM EST

February 17, 24,
March 3,
March 17, 24, 31
(March 10 is a bye-week)

This class improves on the skills learned in Fundamentals of Drawing. We’ll use a pencil but all of these concepts are transferrable to painting; experienced painters are encouraged to try them in paint as well. We’ll cover:

  • Basic figure drawing
  • The figure in the landscape
  • Drawing and painting accurate architecture
  • Using focal points and line to drive the eye through a drawing/painting
  • Concepts in composition
  • Expressing abstract ideas

This class is targeted to the learner who has mastered measurement, shading, and perspective and wants to further develop skills in design and rendering.

The class will run for 6 weeks on Monday evenings, 6-9 PM EST. All you need to participate is a sketchbook, pencil, and zoom-enabled device.

All classes are recorded so you can review them at your leisure.

Zoom class: Critique

Students will bring work they’ve done on their own for analysis within the group. Critique is a long-standing tool in every intellectual discipline, artistic and technical. It must be disciplined and systematic, but art is at the same time intuitive and subjective. We bridge that gap by analyzing works based on the standard accepted canon of design elements:

  • Focal point
  • Line
  • Value
  • Color
  • Balance
  • Shape and form
  • Rhythm and movement
  • Texture (brushwork)

These elements of design transcend style or period. Every painting includes them to some degree. The critic must consider how they work together. Do they coalesce into something arresting? What forces are blocking the full expression of the artist’s idea? If our ideas aren’t working, it’s because we’ve run into a problem that another set of eyes can help us unravel.

If you have questions, contact me. The class meets Monday evenings from 6-9 PM.

The dates for this spring session will be:

  • February 19
  • February 26
  • March 4
  • March 11

Learn more about the practice of critique by visiting these blog posts.

ZOOM class: Critique

Students will bring work they’ve done on their own for analysis within the group. Critique is a long-standing tool in every intellectual discipline, artistic and technical. It must be disciplined and systematic, but art is at the same time intuitive and subjective. We bridge that gap by analyzing works based on a series of values:

  • Focal point
  • Line
  • Value
  • Color
  • Balance
  • Shape and form
  • Rhythm and movement
  • Texture (brushwork)

These elements of design transcend style or period. Every painting includes them to some degree. The critic must consider how they work together. Do they coalesce into something arresting or not? What forces are blocking the full expression of the artist’s idea? If our ideas aren’t working, it’s because we’ve run into a problem that another set of eyes can help us unravel.

If you have questions, contact me. The class meets Monday evenings from 6-9 PM.

  • November 28
  • December 5
  • December 12
  • December 19

Learn more about the practice of critique by visiting these blog posts.

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Cinnamon Fern

Cinnamon Fern was painted along the Boreal Life Trail at the Paul Smiths’ VIC in the High Peaks of the Adirondacks. I walk and paint it every time I’m in the ADK, because it combines many things I love: a distant mountain peak, balsam firs, tamaracks, and carnivorous plants—and of course the tall, elegant fronds of the  fern. There’s a memorable stand of them just where the bog touches the woods. It’s cool and green and lovely on a summer afternoon.

I often remind my students that the focal point of a painting is not necessarily its subject. This painting demonstrates that idea. The ferns are the subject, but the log is the focal point.

You could imagine that ferns are uniformly green, but there are all kinds of subtle colors if you search for them. This painting is an abstract riot of greens and peaches and pinks and teals. It would be equally at home in a traditional room or a very contemporary one. It’s a personal favorite of mine.