Abstract art is about expression. Life offers so many challenges and having a place to learn how to release all those feelings with smiles is "worth its weight in gold”. There are so many ways to free yourself when doing abstractions. Using colors you were afraid to use, making silly marks, and doing things with the innocence of a child. No wrongs or rights, but just having fun and letting go. If you want to learn how to express your inner thoughts and sharpen your skills at the same time, this is a great class for you. We will talk about composition, acrylic techniques, space, and rhythm while having a really good time doing it.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Sandi Neiman Lovitz
Cost: $325
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

This course is designed to create paintings that we will build from a loose, underpainting and refine as we go along. This class is ideal for those painters who want to break out of the habit of focusing in on details and let the paint create a more expressive piece. Attention will be paid to composition, color mixing, paint application and technique. All skill levels welcome in a fun and relaxing atmosphere!
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Stefanie Lieberman
Cost: $370
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Whether you are a beginner or looking to round out your college portfolio, enroll in this class to develop and expand upon your skills in drawing & painting. We will use a variety of medium including: charcoal, chalk, pastel, watercolor and acrylic paints. Working from a different still life arrangement each week, the focus will be on observation and the development of a completed piece each class. Build personal confidence and explore self-expression in the pursuit of finding your own individual style. Students will benefit from demonstrations, highly individualized instruction and weekly critique sessions. This is a 6-week, 2 hr. class.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Mary Kate Doherty
Cost: $220
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Light & Shadow - Bring your paintings to life! Whether it is portrait, still life, landscape or abstracts, the presence of light against shadow gives the subject form and dimension. Bring your own inspiration to class and with this principle in mind, watch your paintings come to life! Composition and color mixing will be a focus in this class. All mediums and skill levels are welcome!
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Stefanie Lieberman
Cost: $280
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Working from your own reference material, we will spend each week focusing on a particular aspect of landscape painting. Individual techniques will be held each session in a supportive atmosphere. Syllabus will be provided. Please bring painting materials to the first class. All mediums welcomed.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Bonnie Mettler
Cost: $325
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

This workshop will focus on the problem of combining the genres of still-life and interior painting into a single picture. We will start by addressing the problem of finding a subject and the practical and formal problems of setting up a still life. We will discuss how to organize and simplify complex information, how to have a unified sense of light throughout the picture and how to perceive color and tone relationships. We will also cover aspects of drawing that will help in the creation of a convincing sense of space. Students are welcome to bring their own objects or work with objects on hand at the center.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Peter Van Dyck
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

This class will introduce students to acrylics, watercolor, inks, pastels, crayons and collage materials. Learn to play with these mediums and express yourself in your own unique way. Students will explore texture, shape, line and color with a focus on composition and design. Come unleash your creative spirit!
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Laurie Daddona
Cost: $235
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Using simple everyday objects in thoughtful well-lit compositions, students create fresh and dynamic paintings. Through instruction, demos, and examining the work of master and contemporary painters, students begin with a direct painting approach and proceed in clear stages. The course covers the key ingredients of great painting, including composition, paint handling, edges, value and color relationships, and modeling form. Students will develop a solid and dependable approach to painting, providing a strong foundation to build upon. Level: Appropriate for beginner and intermediate painters. The returning student is free to work on independent projects whether still life, landscape, or the figure.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Sasha Diehl
Cost: $270
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Unleash a new level in your painting! Choose a photograph of your own and explore methods and techniques for abstracting a scene from a small value or color study to a larger contemporary piece. A short demo, art examples and individual instruction will be provided throughout the day. Students may work in oil or acrylic. Please bring several photos to choose from and include one small (6 x 6 to 8 x 10) and one large (16 x 20 to 24 x 36) substrate with your supplies.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Abby Ober
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

This 6-week class will focus on painting simple spring blooms. Please bring your favorite spring flowers and a small simple vase. We will work from life and from photos to capture the essence of these floral forms. The approach will vary between direct quick studies and longer layered paintings. Level: intermediate to advanced. Medium: all mediums welcome, instructor works in oils. Supply list: bring your preferred brushes and paints, fresh flower(s) and a small vase.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Claudia Rilling
Cost: $300
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Color is perhaps the most misunderstood and confusing element of painting for people. This workshop will focus on color’s theoretical underpinnings —how it works and why it works— and how to apply these principles when faced with the reality of painting with artist's pigments. Key elements of understanding and mixing color effectively will be covered. Participants will work to develop their own vocabulary of color through making color studies and scales, and paint from a still life to practice seeing, relating and mixing colors. This workshop is designed for beginning through intermediate painters who are looking to gain a greater understanding of color and the color mixing process. Participants may choose to work in oil or acrylic.
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Bruce Garrity
Cost: $95
Sponsor: Cerulean Arts Gallery and Studio
Website, email, 1-267-514-8647

Learn to explore new possibilities and paint more intuitively under the guidance of artist/critic/mentor Kassem Amoudi! Work from personal subject matter (objects, images, emotions, or ideas) to find your own visual language, informed by examples from contemporary and modern art. Examine how to use concepts of color, harmony, focal point, space, and mark-making as powerful tools of personal expression. Open painting is heavily supported by critiques and advice from the instructor as he works one-on-one with each student to guide them in their personal style and goals. This course is excellent for students pursuing abstract or nonobjective imagery, seeking knowledgeable feedback and a focused community painting environment. Painting experience recommended.
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi
Cost: $450
Sponsor: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Website, email, 215-972-7632

Unleash a new level in your painting! Choose a photograph of your own and explore methods and techniques for abstracting a scene from a small value or color study to a larger contemporary piece. A short demo, art examples and individual instruction will be provided throughout the day. Students may work in oil or acrylic. Please bring several photos to choose from and include one small (6 x 6 to 8 x 10) and one large (16 x 20 to 24 x 36) substrate with your supplies.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Abby Ober
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Push the boundaries of what it means to paint with acrylics in this exciting exploration into experimental techniques. Explore the fluid, sculptural, assembled possibilities of acrylics! This hands-on, one-of-a-kind journey will take you places that you never thought you would go in acrylic painting: pour paint to make layers of color that can be peeled up, sculpted into three-dimensional forms, or collaged and layered into other works. Create flexible tiles of acrylic color that can be snipped, shaped, and assembled into mosaics or applied to a variety of surfaces for artistic or decorative effects. Discover a myriad of alternative supports, brushes, and methods of paint application to incorporate abstract effects into your current body of work.
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Anthony Ciambella
Cost: $295
Sponsor: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Website, email, 215-972-7632

This complete acrylic painting course covers basics to advanced methods. Learn to use quick-drying acrylics expertly in thin, transparent layers as well as thicker, more opaque applications that produce textural and impasto effects. Materials like fluid mediums, gels, and pastes will be demonstrated, along with both brush and palette knife techniques. Several different color palettes will be introduced as students work from still life subjects. This course is ideal for students looking for a non-toxic, flexible painting medium, as well as anyone seeking to explore acrylics’ excellent potential for representational and abstract work. Drawing experience is recommended.
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan
Cost: $295
Sponsor: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Website, email, 215-972-7632

Paint from a life model in a single pose for the entire course. Extended time with a single subject allows students to work with the instructor to tailor exercises that address their individual interests, including the development of one large image or several smaller studies. The first session will include time for gestural and thumbnail drawings in preparation for the model’s final placement. Instruction will cover a variety of topics including glazing, broken color, surface texture, composition and design, the relationship of the figure to the environment, the creation of atmosphere and color harmony, disrupted realism, and open- versus closed-form painting. All levels welcome. Students are welcome to draw-only, or use other appropriate media, if they wish.
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Instructor: David Wilson
Cost: $330
Sponsor: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Website, email, 215-972-7632

Many artists can feel frustrated in front of a blank canvas, unsure of how to start and what to paint. This workshop offers a step-by-step technique which will enable you to paint with confidence by tapping into your intuitive process and finding inspiration more easily. Experienced instruction and advice from the instructor will push students to take chances and explore unexpected directions and accidental marks as a means of achieving artistic discoveries. Demonstration of different drawing and painting techniques will enhance your knowledge of the process of painting. Students will utilize line, color and space, as well as the possibilities of editing, to create busy/calm areas and focal points in their paintings. Painting experience recommended.
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi
Cost: $225
Sponsor: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Website, email, 215-972-7632

You can learn to create wonderfully energized paintings, capturing the light and atmosphere of your subject. Joe's 3-day plein air workshop will fill you with confidence and vision to move you forward.
 
Location: Marietta, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Joe Gyurcsak
Cost: $600
Sponsor: Susquehanna Art Workshops
Website, email, 717-314-9551