Friday - Sunday, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. (Zoom only) 
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi 
Credit: Non-Credit Only 

Register by December 18 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2024 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. (Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Open Academy classes, studio rental, gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.)

Explore the painting techniques and color-layering processes behind the sophisticated genre of colorfield painting with artist/critic/mentor Kassem Amoudi in this live Zoom class. Masters including Jules Olitski, Morris Louis, Nicolas de Stael, and Richard Diebenkorn will be discussed. Sessions are comprised of live painting time in a community classroom-like atmosphere, with critiques and advice from the instructor as he works one-on-one with each student.  Group instruction includes a presentation of notable artworks and discussion about the defining characteristics of the genre. Painting experience recommended. Note: Due to the emphasis on live instructor feedback and in-class painting, this Zoom class is not recorded. 

Image: Kassem Amoudi. 

Register by: February 23

Materials List 

Winter/Spring 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses 

Tuesdays, 6 - 8 p.m. (Zoom, with posted Canvas content) 
Instructor: Alicia Mino 
Credit: Non-Credit Only 

Register by December 18 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2024 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. (Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Open Academy classes, studio rental, gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.) 

Learn strategies to translate your photographs into drawings that both retain the photo’s realism and promote your personal expression. Using colored pencil (which combines the possibilities of color with the ease of dry media), explore tactics for accurately translating your imagery to your drawing surface; identifying, mixing, and layering color to achieve vibrant effects; creating realism through the study of texture, light, and contrast; and employing addition and subtraction techniques to expand your range of mark-making. Work from your choice of photographic subject matter – a great option for students seeking to make art from personal experiences, capture family and friends who cannot pose for portraiture, or expand their interests and skills in landscapes, animals, or other subject matter not easily accessible.  This course is excellent for beginners or those interested in colored pencil or photorealistic drawing techniques. 

Image: Alicia Mino.

Register by: February 23

Materials List 

Winter/Spring 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses 

Tuesdays, 6 - 9 p.m.  
Instructor: Keith Leitner 
Credit: Non-Credit Only 

Register by December 18 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2024 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. (Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Open Academy classes, studio rental, gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.) 

Explore both the versatility of watercolor and the exciting possibilities of color through still life painting. Learn to capture form with the freshness and fluidity of all prima techniques.  Promote color in your work through instruction on color properties, mixing, and basic theory, as well as how to use hues in combination to create impactful compositions.  Discussions and in-depth demonstrations will enforce all content so that students gain the facility and freedom to use color and painting techniques as means of personal expression. 

Image: Keith Leitner. 

Register by: March 1 
Materials List  
Winter/Spring 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies 

Wednesdays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan 
Credit: Non-Credit Only 

Register by December 18 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2024 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. (Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Open Academy classes, studio rental, gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.) 

For students with some experience and training with acrylic paints, this course will increase the fascination and challenge of the medium by guiding you into a wide range of techniques and materials that will advance your skill level. Explore transparent and semi-opaque layering more deeply while investigating masking and blending techniques. Content will include color theory and compositional structure, as well as the introduction of a broad selection of acrylic paint types and additives. Subject matter includes still life arrangements, the human figure, and the expansive views of the city from the upper floors of PAFA. Previous acrylic painting experience required.  Tuition includes a $35 models fee.

Image: Fred Kaplan, Godel Escher Bach at Relativistic Velocity, 2019 Acrylic, oil and ink on canvas, 32 x 72 in. 

Register by: February 26

Materials List 

Winter/Spring 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Wednesdays, 6 - 9 p.m. (Zoom with posted Canvas content) 
Instructor: Susan Sullivan 
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (see description) 

Register by December 18 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2024 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. (Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Open Academy classes, studio rental, gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.)

Are you intimidated by the idea of oil painting? This course will help the beginning painter gain confidence in a variety of techniques including direct and indirect painting; color mixing; using mediums, solvents and additives; and painting with a brush and palette knife. Subject matter will include still life, portrait, interior spaces, landscape, and a master copy. Zoom class times will be comprised of group lectures and demonstrations, as well as studio painting time where the instructor will work one-on-one to guide students toward successful compositions. Drawing experience required. 

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $595. Select credit option with price adjustment when registering. 

Image: Susan Sullivan, Pool Puddle.

Register by: February 23

Materials List 

Winter/Spring 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses 

Thursdays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.  
Instructor: Keith Leitner 
Credit: Non-Credit Only 

Register by December 18 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2024 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. (Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Open Academy classes, studio rental, gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.) 

Drawing is integral to all types of painting in the development of form and composition, but many beginning painters lack the fundamental drawing skills, or the understanding of how best to use them, to serve their painting goals.  This combination drawing and painting (all media) class will focus on how to use drawing to create a roadmap to develop your finished work. Observational, measuring, and compositional rendering tactics will be addressed with attention to using positive and negative space and breaking your composition down to basic components. Students then will be guided toward adapting their drawings to paintings in their choice of oil or water-based media. Historical examples will show how painters past and present have used drawing in the creation of their work. Various drawing media will be discussed; some painting experience recommended.     

Image: Keith Leitner. 

Register by: March 1

Materials List 

Winter/Spring 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies 

Thursdays, 6 - 8 p.m. (Zoom with posted Canvas content) 
Instructor: Michelle Oosterbaan 
Credit: Non-Credit Only 

Register by December 18 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2024 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. (Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Open Academy classes, studio rental, gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.) 

Dogs, cats, and other pets have sneaked their way into master drawings and paintings throughout the centuries just as they insinuate themselves into our daily lives.  From cats stealing food in 17th century still life art, to Bonnard’s dachshunds perched at the table or curled beside the bath, to Sarah McEneaney’s pets as studio helpers in contemporary work, household animals have proven themselves to be important painterly subjects on their own or as a part of still lifes, portraits, domestic scenes, and other genres.  Learn to find inspiration in your own furry family members to make them a meaningful part of your painting practice.  Rather than a pet portrait or animal anatomy course, this class will utilize drawn and painted sketches from life, photo references, and compositional studies to explore ways of realistically and expressively depicting your animal, including them into other subjects as formal or personal elements, or even making them a part of abstract compositions. Line, gesture, movement, textural/optical effects, and compositional principles will be addressed. Content will include presentations and PowerPoint examples from historical and contemporary art, engaging homework assignments, and discussions about the meaning of animals in art and tactics for making them a special focus in your own work. Open to all drawing and painting media.

Image: Sarah McEneaney, Paint Print, 2002, Lithograph on paper, 11 x 15 in. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Art by Women Collection, Gift of Linda Lee Alter. 2011.1.282e

Register by: March 1

Materials List 

Winter/Spring 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses 

Fridays, 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (Zoom with posted Canvas content) 
Instructor: Roberto Osti 
Credit: Non-Credit Only 

Register by December 18 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2024 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. (Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Open Academy classes, studio rental, gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.)

Practice a variety of fundamental figure drawing approaches while working from photographic references. Media and techniques include graphite on white paper, charcoal on white paper, charcoal and chalk on toned paper, reduction methods, and the trois crayons technique. Proportions and methods of measuring will be emphasized. Students will gain confidence in their representation of the human form and handling of materials as they draw alongside the instructor during live Zoom sessions. The online structure allows for an optimal overhead view of the instructor’s demonstration drawings and a focused but conversational community environment as students engage with the instructor and complete in-class work together. 

Image: Roberto Osti.

Register by: March 1

Materials List 

Winter/Spring 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses