Michael Weller – Painting the Still Life as Landscape after Morandi (Online); Fridays, January 27-February 24, 2023

Date: Fridays, January 27-February 24, 2023
Time: 9:30 AM-12:00PM Pacific Time, 12:30-3:00 PM Eastern Time, 5:30-8:00 PM London Time
Level: All
Medium: Oil or acrylic

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Morandi’s still-life paintings often resemble the towers and town squares of his native Bologna, where he lived his entire life and which greatly influenced his work.

In this five-week class, students will be inspired by the dusty golden light often depicted in Morandi’s paintings to try different techniques for managing shapes and light and dark in their own work. Weller will share how he uses his sketchbook as a crucial element of this process and will encourage participants to follow this drawing practice as a way of capturing groups of objects and compositions for use in creating their own paintings.

Michael will paint and demo in oils, but students may prefer gouache, watercolor or acrylic. Some drawing experience is useful for this class, but all levels are welcome. Class will include lots of hands-on help and feedback from the instructor.

Week 1 Interpreting a Morandi still-life. Looking at his shapes and colors.

Week 2 Household objects seen at eye level.

Week 3 Household objects seen from above.

Week 4 Using the drawing to inform the arrangement of objects which we paint.

Week 5 Continued from Week 4- Using the drawing to inform the arrangement of objects which we paint

Michael Weller studied librarianship in Manchester and realised early on he didn’t want to be a librarian. Life-drawing cheered him up. Later he did a degree in Fine Art and studied portrait-painting at Lavender Hill Studios and drawing and painting with the New English Art Club. In 2015 he won the Le Clerc Fowle Medal for a group of outstanding paintings at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters’ annual exhibition, and the Winsor & Newton Award for a painting at the New English Art Club annual exhibition. Weller was elected to the New English Art Club in 2022. michaelweller.co.uk