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Abstraction
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Oil/Acrylic Painting: Abstracting the Real (In-Person)
with Frederic Kaplan

Saturdays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Using oil or acrylic paints, exploit a wide range of techniques and artistic languages to transform everyday reality into expressive, symbolic, or personal statements. Base your paintings on unique studio still-life arrangements or use your own photographs as a starting point. Topics discussed and demonstrated include using color as an emotive element, designing compositions to convey mood and movement, and employing energetic mark-making. For less experienced students, materials, color mixing, and basic techniques are also reviewed.
Course Objectives
The student will learn…
- How to select and use basic materials, including the characteristics of various commonly used colors, solvents, and mediums
- To execute a variety of direct and indirect painting methods.
- Approaches to interpreting and modifying observed reality to achieve emotive, symbolic, and compositional goals
- Descriptive, emotive, and symbolic use of color, shape, and mark
- Basic color theory and color mixing
Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $575. Select credit option when registering.
Please note: All students enrolling in on-campus courses must submit proof of full COVID-19 vaccination and at least one additional booster upon registration. Registrations lacking vaccine documentation or approved medical exemption one week after submission are subject to withdrawal. Requests for medical or religious exemptions must be approved by PAFA’s head of security. Withdrawals for noncompliance will result in fees. See CE Policy Guide for complete COVID safety requirements and policies.
Image: Frederic Kaplan.
Register by: January 6
CE Policy Guide Winter/Spring 2023
CE Proof of Vaccination/Booster Form - SUBMISSION REQUIRED AT TIME OF REGISTRATION
Painting Over the Line (Online)
with Kassem Amoudi

Wednesdays, 1 – 4 p.m.
Take your work to the next level under the guidance of artist/critic/mentor Kassem Amoudi in this live Zoom class. Expert instruction and advice will push you to explore new possibilities and work more intuitively, allowing unplanned marks and passages to become artistic breakthroughs. Paint from personal subject matter to find your own visual language, informed by examples from contemporary and modern art. Painting experience recommended. Kassem will begin each class with a slide presentation/lecture focusing on how master artists through history have addressed color, harmony, focal points, space, mark making, paint application, and more, and how to apply these concepts to your own work.
Image: Kassem Amoudi
Register by: January 13
Colorfield Abstraction Workshop (Online)
with Kassem Amoudi

Friday - Sunday, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Broaden your painting horizons through this in-depth focus on colorfield painting. Explore the painting techniques and color-layering processes behind this sophisticated genre. Masters including Jules Olitski, Morris Louis, Nicolas de Stael, and Richard Diebenkorn will be discussed. Includes a presentation of notable artworks and critique. Painting experience recommended.
Image: Kassem Amoudi.
Register by: February 24