Painting Workshops

To make a painting, one must understand and recognize the shapes that make up a composition. Then comes value…and then comes color. It is as simple as that!

Award-winning artist, Lon Brauer, will be showing you the value of a very limited palette of colors to unify and construct more compelling compositions. Students will be working both from life and photo references to make landscape paintings with depth, breadth, and structure.

If you want to paint better – Be more accurate – Convey your vision and impression – and do it all with greater confidence and JOY this will help. You will see all the tips, tools, techniques and gear that have taken me years to curate.

Through focused intentional learning you will come to understand the effective use of grisaille and sight size and how to incorporate it into your plein air painting. You will see and then practice my unique application of each and the freedom it allows you creatively.

DAY ONE:

DEMO: Watch the birth of a painting as I explain AND demonstrate the process from the grisaille and my unique approach to “Sight Size”. This will go through LUNCH so be sure to have what you need to fuel your body with you.

STREAMLINE: Learn how to streamline your setup, pallet, and sight selection. You will be exposed to all the strategies that I employ to get me joyfully, and successfully through a plein air painting.

ELIMINATE STRESSES: I’ll guide you through the process that will get you to the good stuff of painting out in nature. You will discover what most plein air painters only come to know through trial and error and years of practice.

PLEIN AIR GUIDE: You’ll be presented with examples and guidelines that will take your plein air work to the next level as we discuss composing and choosing what to paint.

PAINT: You put into practice what you’ve learned and I will be beside you to help with plenty of one on one interaction – set up – site selection – design consideration – that will speak specifically to your needs. I will ask for your permission to paint on your panel and collaborate with you to get you up and going. Think of it as having training wheels on your bike.

DAY TWO:

MORNING DEMO – GOING DEEPER:

Watch the implementation of what was discussed the day before as you witness the guide in action. Learn what questions I ask myself to gain insight. See how to use the tools that will guarantee success and help you determine what to approach and in what order.

PAINT: You will be guided and helped as you choose your view and design. I’ll be right there as you try what you’ve learned. You will get plenty of one on one interaction that will help you realize your vision. With your permission, I will paint on your pallet to offer individualized suggestions that reaffirm what you’ve learned. All the marks made on your panel will be yours. The training wheels are off and I’m running beside you as you find your balance and way forward.

WRAPPING IT UP: We will wind up by presenting your beautiful paintings. The three pieces you’ve created during our time together will be displayed and discussed. You will have the opportunity to see how what you’ve internalized can be carried forward in effective ways and how our time together was a GAME CHANGER for you. The finish is just as important as the process so please plan to stay to the end.

THE CHERRY ON TOP: Group photo and a send-off that will leave you knowing you have so much to offer when you contribute authentically in your unique way using the new GAME-CHANGING tools and techniques you’ve discovered over the past three days. Thank you for trusting me with your resources, time, and creativity.

I am joyful in your service and looking forward to the beauty you will bring to the world.

In this Plein air workshop, we will try to catch the color of light, day, sunset, and night. All mediums are welcome: watercolor, pastel, oils, and acrylics. This is an intensive class, with on-site painting and demo.

We’ll work on: better composition, accuracy, fast color mixing, landscape perspective, and pictorial distance; learn to create that using drawn and aerial perspective, the importance of edges, and the right brushstrokes

Chasing the Light Supply List

This three-day workshop is open to Intermediate, Advanced, and Professional artists. The chance to create a strong visual pictorial should be a paramount decision of the representational painter. Grasping and holding the attention of the viewer to our works, should be our goal first and foremost. After seizing their attention, the artist needs to retain their interest with competent and expressive paint applications directed and intended to create the illusion of object, form, depth, and mood. In this workshop, emphasis will be placed upon developing dynamic and more powerful compositions, teaming this with an expressive medium application or what’s known as brushwork. The creative process is based on a compilation of the basic visual artistic fundamentals and principles, which are essential in the development of a representational painting. The knowledge and opportunity to develop your skills from this workshop can be applied to various disciplines such as plein air, still life, landscape, figurative or portrait painting.

Kenn will work with you to help further develop your individual style. He will identify your strengths and your weak points. We will build on your strengths and work to overcome the weak areas. Kenn teaches through both lecture and demonstration, but to further your painting development he will also work with your individual and unique vision.