Creating Dramatic Light in Plein Air Painting

Registration opening soon. Learn the joys of capturing and creating dramatic light in the moment through plein air watercolor.  This workshop will cover the basic watercolor handling techniques that can speed up your process, loosen you up, and increase your success in capturing outdoor scenes.  Beginning and intermediate topics will be covered in the studio and outdoors in plein air.

There will be daily skill building exercises focusing on controlling paper moisture, mixtures,  and timing. Geoff’s demonstrations will review materials and show students how all these techniques flow together to “keep it fresh” while focusing on a variety of subject matter; coastal, landscape, and still-life.

Geoff’s daily demos will cover how to take your inspiration through a process of simplification while enhancing design dynamics, expression, defining light/ shadow, and creating atmosphere.  It all starts with practicing watercolor’s quartet of skills; values, shapes, color, and mark making.  Geoff will be following up individually with students to reinforce concepts and skills at their easel. 

Day One and Two, In the Studio: 

We will be starting with watercolor handling and learning how to read moisture in the paper in order to respond with a brush mixture and edge control. The class will focus on understanding a three value approach to applying watercolor layers and how drawing a preliminary sketch defining light and shade can loosen up your watercolors. There will be a total of two demonstrations on each day.

Day Three On Location TBD: 

The morning demo will focus on the desert scene of atmosphere, reflections, and trees followed by a student painting session. The class will meet for a quick sharing of students’ work on site.