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Learn to paint expressive, impressionistic acrylic paintings that capture the colour, light, and essence of a scene. Stretch your creativity and get out of your comfort zone to push past what you see to what you’d like to express. Make value and negative pattern work for you to produce paintings that have strength and depth. Show the Artist’s hand with bold brush strokes and “unexpected” colour.

Canvas prep, composition, and underpainting approaches will be shared. Colour mixing with a touch of theory to kiss bye-bye to local colour, it’s time to turn up the chroma! Explore varnish techniques to make your work glow.

Students should bring:

• Supports: We will be working with smaller canvases throughout this workshop so we can experiment with different application styles and subject matter. 8”x10” or 9”x12” and up to 12”x12” canvases as per your choice, canvas or wood.
• Paint Choices: Get artist quality paint if you can afford it, I generally use Golden Heavy Bodied and/or Golden High Flow liquid acrylic paint. Suggested palette: Alizarin Crimson Hue, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Ultramarine Blue and/or Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Orange, Dioxazine Purple, Burnt Sienna, Titanium White, and Carbon Black. Feel free to bring other paint colours too, if you have them. Additional colours that are useful are Cadmium Red Medium, Teal, Yellow Ochre.If you would like to experiment with liquid acrylics, order a set of 10 Golden High Flow Acrylics online from art supply stores like Currys.com for $62.50. I use High Flow acrylics regularly in my painting, they are easy to use and are compatible to tube paints.https://www.currys.com/catalogpc.htm?Category=GOLDEN_HIGH_FLOW_ACRYLIC_SETS&Source=Search
• Brushes: It is useful to have both some soft watercolour type and stiff acrylic type brushes. I generally use a 1-inch flat acrylic brush, and a 1⁄2” bristle brush for most of my laying in of colour. For initial sketching in, I use a softer round #10 or #12 watercolour brush. Softer brushes work well if you are going to use High Flow liquid acrylic paint.
• Mediums: Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid (Satin) for hard body tube paint only – used for thinning paint and glazing. Golden Molding Paste if you want to texture your canvas. If you are using wood panels or cradled wood supports you will need GAC100.
• Other Stuff: water bucket, paper towels, palette or “stay wet palette” and a painting knife, blow dryer, small water spritzer bottle. Drawing pencil, black marker or pen, sketchbook/notebook, tape, and an easel if you have one (the School also has easels available).
• Photos: Photos will be supplied to work from.

Bookings

Sharon Fox Cranston

Sharon Fox Cranston is a visual artist based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. She is multi-disciplined and works in oil, acrylic and pastel. Sharon is a Signature member of the Society of Canadian Artists, the Pastel Society of America, and a designated Master Pastelist of Pastel Artists Canada. She has been creating fine art professionally for over 20 years.

Her impressionistic style actively challenges the viewer to interpret the work for themselves. Sharon’s focus is on the texture, colour and rhythms of the rural landscape.

“Creating art brings me joy, it gives my visual perception of the world a voice. I enjoy challenging myself to grow, to experiment, to explore new ways of looking at the world. Each one of my paintings is a visual record of where I’ve been, what I’ve seen, and how I’ve tried to express that moment to others.”

Bookings

This workshop is full.