Date: Thursdays, October 26-November 16 + bonus one-hour critique session November 30, 2023
Time*: 9:00-11:00 AM Pacific Time (12:00-2:00 PM Eastern Time)
Level: All
Medium: Oil or acrylic
*International Students: Clocks change one hour back in the USA on November 5. The UK & EU change clocks on October 29. Therefore, class time on October 26 and November 9 and 16 is 5:00-7:00 PM London Time. November 2 class time is 4:00-6:00 PM London Time. Please be aware of the time change when registering for this class.
Erin’s motto is “start simple, stay simple.”
This four-week course begins at the beginning, choosing one subject (the apple) to observe and explore in line, color, shape, and tone. Each week, this conversation in paint will expand, as one apple is joined by a second, and then a third, and so on.
Course work will explore design, composition, and drawing as well as color-mixing, and paint application. Each session will build your skills toward greater confidence and ease with not just apples but ANY subject.
For the experienced painter this course is a refresher on the basics of looking, seeing, and painting with confidence and vigor. The beginning or returning painter will experience the A to Z of observational painting and learn sound techniques that will set them in good stead when approaching painting any subject.
Each session will include a demo, with clear and detailed step-by-step instructions, along with inspirational images and discussion of what makes great paintings great, along with simple suggestions for better painting. Each session will end with time for a live Q & A. Each week, you will post your work to a private group message board hosted on Winslow Art’s website and receive feedback and suggestions for improvement. The fifth bonus week will be an extended conversation, with opportunity for extended critique, feedback, and recommendations for next steps.
An award-winning painter and author, Erin Gafill has inspired people around the world with her inspirational art, heartfelt stories, and uniquely engaging teaching methods. Her work bridges art, craft, and community, weaving observation, intuition, and imagination into her painting, writing, teaching, and public speaking.
A fifth-generation California artist, she was born in Big Sur, California in 1963, the daughter of a beatnik and a flower child. She is the great-great-granddaughter of Carmel’s first artist-in-residence. Growing up at her grandparents’ legendary restaurant, Nepenthe, a mecca for poets, bohemians and dreamers, she drew inspiration from its ever-changing cast of characters as well as the stunning and mystical beauty of the coast.
Erin is the founder of the nonprofit Big Sur Arts Initiative, and a founding member of the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters Association (MBPAPA). In 2001 Erin was honored to serve as the first American Artist-in-Residence at the Hamada International Children’s Museum, Hamada, Japan.
In 2009, she and her husband Tom Birmingham were named Champions of the Arts by the Arts Council of Monterey County and were honored by the United States Congress for their service to the community through the arts.
Her exhibit Color Duets was the featured 2021 Spring/Summer show for the Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, California, followed the next summer by a solo exhibit, California Atmosphere at the Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, California. She is the author of a coffee-table art book, Color Duets, with Kaffe Fassett, and a memoir about life/work balance, Drinking from a Cold Spring, a Little Book of Hope. Both books are available at www.colorduets.com.
