Discover, Create, and Have Fun with Art! Unleash your creativity as you explore a variety of art techniques and materials! Each session focuses on a different medium—like drawing, watercolor, pastel, or oil—giving you the chance to experiment and express yourself through unique projects. No experience needed—just bring your curiosity! All materials are provided, so come ready to learn, play, and get inspired.
August 6th - Exploration of Drawing We’ll do several different drawings, using graphite, charcoal, or ink to draw what we see on the tabletop. Then we’ll experiment with drawing the light with white chalk on dark paper. Van Gogh used the twigs from a grapevine and dipped them in ink to create very expressive marks. Let’s try it!
August 13th - World of Watercolor In Western art, the tradition has been to start with a fine pencil outline and fill in the shapes with watercolor. In Eastern art, the tradition has been to create each shape (each petal, each leaf) with one stroke of a bamboo brush. Let’s try both! We’ll alternate painting on our drawings and drawing on our paintings with pen and ink.
August 20th - Pastel and Oil Pastel We’ll experiment with two very different types of pastel. First, we’ll use the soft chalky artist pastels to draw on colored paper. Then, on white paper, we’ll work with oil pastels and paint thinner. We’ll explore the solubility of the pastels and the resulting paint-like quality of the medium.
August 27th - Water Soluble Oil Paint This paint is similar to traditional oil paints in terms of drying time and consistency. However, this specially formulated oil paint can be thinned with water, and paintbrushes can be easily cleaned with water during painting. As a result, colors tend to stay bright and clean. A specially modified linseed oil will be our medium. It’s fun to explore the possibilities of working with thick brushstrokes on top of a thin underpainting!
All materials are provided.
4-Workshops $140 | Material fee $20
Individual Workshops $40 | Material fee $5
I paint for the joy of it.
The first strokes on a blank canvas are the start of an adventure. There is a thrill somewhere near the start when you contemplate that this next work may be the best anyone has ever made. A few more strokes and you separate yourself from the constraints of what you already know. Soon after, you hit your stride, surrendering yourself to the present moment, where nothing matters but what your mind sees and your hands produce. Every detail is critical and every nuance is fascinating. In what seems like moments, you are exhausted! You realize that hours have passed. The rest of the world reappears and you feel acutely alive.
Perhaps art is as simple as sharing. I share a sense of being with the subjects of my artworks. I bond with other people when they set up their easels next to mine. And I love that we are all lifted by the tide of inspiration when we teach each other something new.
I founded, directed, and taught at my independent art school, Art Collaborations, in Princeton, NJ, for 33 years. I now paint in my studio in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, as well as painting alla prima in beautiful New England environments.
https://www.heatherbarros.com/
Heather Barros
