Learn the foundational skills needed to create a naturalistic figure painting from a live model. The class covers basic proportion, anatomical structure, and color mixing from a limited palette.
Beginning students explore watercolor techniques and learn new approaches to painting through demonstration, discussion, and experimentation.
Expand on your technical background and grow your practice as an oil painter. This class provides students with the opportunity to work on personal projects, set up a still-life arrangement, and explore figure painting from a live model. Unfurl your style with support and feedback from the instructor.
Using watercolors, capture the nuances of the natural light in the beautiful Enid A. Haupt Garden next to the Smithsonian Castle. Study the delicate subtleties of the plants and learn to translate your observations into stunning Post-Impressionistic studies and paintings. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Build on your botanical painting skills in this next-level class as you create vibrant watercolors inspired by nature. Learn to focus on the texture and detail of botanical subjects, including flowers, fruits, and vegetables.
In this class open to all levels, students discover the versatility and fluidity of working in watercolors while exploring the functional and aesthetic elements of design found in plants.
Discover the versatility and fluidity of painting in watercolor, an exciting and unpredictable medium. Learn techniques such as graded washes, wet-on-wet, wet-on-dry, dry brush, splattering, lifting, and glazing.
In this course, gain the technical background and experience you need to get started as a painter. Working from museum masterpieces, still-life arrangements, or your favorite photos, explore basic painting techniques, including color-mixing, scumbling, and glazing.
Learn how to paint expressive portraits as you improve your observational skills, ability to see angles and shapes, and understanding of color and value. The class emphasizes how to define a subject’s unique features by determining shapes of light and shadow.
Using watercolor, learn the strategies Morisot, Turner, Monet, and Cézanne employed to harness light in their images. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
