About the Workshop
In painting from life and the natural world around one, there is an immediacy and eventual meditation as one focuses on trying to capture the picture before one, the composition changing as the sun moves across the sky, shadows shrinking or lengthening and hues altering as the angle of the light changes. There is no time for careful copying from a referencing image…and so plein air painting is a lesson in organizing one’s palette, and absorbing and really seeing the scene before one so as to capture it with an meditative immediacy. This two session workshop will guide one in how to set up and position the easel, and then recognize the variables so as to help the budding artist to focus on what inspires them before capturing the scene with a directness that only painting from nature can result in.
Material List
Paint Brushes (your preferred brushes). Recommended:
- Medium sized Fibert
- Angular Brush
16x20 Canvases or Canvas Boards x2
Clip on holder for linseed and turpentine if using oil paints
Handy wipes are great for oil painting clean up
A jar if using Acrylic Paints
Bring any paints that you have and like to use;
Recommended:
Titanium White
Burnt Umber
Burnt Sienna
Ultramarine blue
Cobalt Blue
Cadmium Yellow
Any colours that you do not have can be provided.
Your Instructor
Simon Copas
B. 1960, Simon started painting in the mid-nineties when an employer suggested he could paint a large mural for an antique fair...he doubtful about his ability until it was finished and moderately good enough that he had the confidence to buy an easel, and start painting. A stint at Christie’s learning about the the fine and decorative arts provided him with good background knowledge to paint, hours spent in galleries observing.. and then later a year working at the Vermont Studio Centre, Johnson, Vermont...where he benefited from visiting fine artists and educators lectures and studio visits. Early on he was particularly drawn to artists of early twentieth century New York, many who had been at the New York School of Art with his grandmother, her own works and tales which had naturally made an impression upon him. He likes to paint from nature for the meditation it provides, but also to paint in a more visionary way in the studio, taking one sketch and slowly transforming it into picture where everyone moves together in one large sweep of energy.
