Gage Opdenbrouw - Painting Fresh Flowers: A Meditative Approach (Online); Tuesdays, May 3-June 14, 2022 (no class May 17)

This class is no longer available for registration. View the Online Course Catalog for all current class listings.

Date: Tuesdays, May 3-June 14, 2022 (no class May 17)
Time: 10:30 AM-1:30PM Pacific Time (1:30-4:30 PM Eastern Time/6:30-9:30PM London Time)
Level: All
Medium: Drawing and all paint mediums

For some years now, beginning with peonies at the beginning of summer, I have often painted fresh flowers as a sort of meditation on the simple beauty of small humble things.

This class will be rooted in, but not limited to, work from direct observation. Working with fresh flowers, and directly from life, is encouraged as a starting point. A quickly changing and delicate subject like the fleeting beauty of a fresh flower begs many questions of us about strategy and approach, as well as technique, and we will explore the role that drawing, painting, memory, and photography have in realizing a satisfying painting. And, if that doesn’t happen, at least you’ve spent a couple quiet hours looking at a flower.

Each session will include one-hour time of in class work time for drawing and painting, as well as time for breakouts with the instructor for individual critique as desired.

Students will paint their own setups at home or in their studios and we will share our in progress work for discussion, as well as do exercises intended to deepen looking and attentiveness in different ways. All experience levels are welcome, and any media are welcome as well.

“A deep thematic thread runs through all of my work, it’s a ‘vanitas’ sort of message, to take the time to be present, to notice the magic of noticing, the richness of what’s right in front of us. I think that there is something radical in making work that is intimate in scale and quiet in its content and its aims–it strikes me as a tonic, an antidote, for our times, which are increasingly dehumanized, and in which people are living lives that are increasingly disembodied, mediated by a screen, and constantly stimulated. My art is about connecting with this world, this moment, as it is, as deeply as possible.” www.gageopdenbrouw.com

This class is no longer available for registration.