Wednesdays, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

This combination of instructed class and open studio is designed for students interested in advancing their representational drawing and painting.  Design and work on your own personal projects utilizing the cast collection, figure/portrait models, and still life or interior spaces, assisted by individual critiques and group instruction on topics of broad concern or interest.  This course features intermediate-level instruction for students with prior drawing/painting experience.  Note: Tuition includes a $50 model fee. 

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $1,150 (including model fee). Select credit option when registering. 

This course does not meet on March 22 & 29 but runs through PAFA’s Spring Break. 

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:  Peter Van Dyck, Couple Manayunk

Register by: January 6 

Materials List 

CE Policy Guide Winter/Spring 2023 

CE Proof of Vaccination/Booster Form - SUBMISSION REQUIRED AT TIME OF REGISTRATION 

Sundays, 3 - 4 p.m.

Al Gury, Chair of PAFA’s Painting Department and noted author of Color for Painters: A Guide to Traditions and Practice, presents this in-depth approach to the skills, materials, colors, history, and techniques of direct landscape painting. Working from photographs, masterworks, or available on-site images, learn concepts that will not only improve your landscape painting but also grow your confidence in your artistic practice. Video demonstrations, images, and written instructions on Canvas will be supplemented by critiques and weekly Zoom discussions. Oil painting will be the primary focus, but all media are welcome. 

This course does not meet during Spring Break, March 6 – 12. 

NOTE: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $575. 

Register by: January 6 

Materials List 

CE Policy Guide Winter/Spring 2023 

Zoom Technical Requirements 

Image: Al Gury. 

Sundays, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. 

An in-depth approach to understanding and mixing color for oil painting from the Chair of PAFA’s Painting Department and noted author of Color for Painters: A Guide to Traditions and Practice. Explore history, palettes, mixing and application for still life, portrait, interior spaces and landscape through a series of studio paintings.  Includes videos, lectures and assignments with regular instructor feedback, and weekly Zoom meetings. 

Learning Objectives 

• Students will gain an understanding of the history and evolution of color in painting 
• Students will gain an understanding of theoretical and critical approaches to color 
• Students will gain an understanding of the practical applications of color mixing, gradations, temperature and palettes 
• Students will learn color application through studio projects using the major aesthetics of color 
• Students will learn to understand the use of color in a variety of masterworks 

This course does not meet during Spring Break, March 6 – 12. 

NOTE: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $575. 

Register by: January 6 

Materials List 

CE Policy Guide Winter/Spring 2023 

Zoom Technical Requirements 

Image: Al Gury. 

Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Keep your plein air skills warm during the colder months by joining Joe Sweeney, online inside his studio, to hone your landscape painting practice indoors!  Work from instructor-provided reference photographs of the New Hope countryside, the area made famous by Daniel Garber, Edward Redfield, Fern Coppedge, and other masters of Pennsylvania Impressionism.  Topics will include creating a strong composition, identifying what to leave in and what to leave out, color mixing, capturing the effects of light, painting techniques, and learning how to use photographs effectively to prepare for or supplement outdoor work. Instruction is geared toward oil/acrylic painting, but experienced watercolorists are welcome. Ideal for all levels, including beginning painters.   

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $575. Select credit option when registering.

Image:  Joseph Sweeney, Farm on New Road, Pastel. 

Register by: January 13

Materials List 

CE Policy Guide Winter/Spring 2023 

Zoom Technical Requirements - SUBMISSION REQUIRED AT TIME OF REGISTRATION 

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

Materials List 

CE Policy Guide Winter/Spring 2023 

Zoom Technical Requirements 

Mondays, 12:30 – 3:30 p.m. 

Discover how great oil paintings are made in this fascinating examination of artists’ materials from the pre-Renaissance to the present day! Explore and sample traditional underpainting techniques, glazing and scumbling layering methods, and wet-into-wet alla prima painting in this combination seminar and hands-on class. Learn about artists’ palettes, the development of colors and mediums, and the mass production of art materials, as well as display, storage, and health issues. Includes behind-the-scenes visits to the PAFA painting vaults and works on paper archives. Open to artists and art appreciators alike. 

Learning Objectives: 

• Dispel the misinformed, bad advice you might have collected over the years. 
• To familiarize you with the best of traditional and newer materials, and to demonstrate their use in a manner that will assist you in achieving your artistic vision as directly as possible within a range of techniques that are permanent. 
• Investigate the compatibility and consequences of the materials you are using. 
• Gain knowledge of the painting craft to know your options, to be able to delineate your ideas with the least possible interference from the medium, and to have your creations last as long as possible with a minimum of change. 
• Know terms related to art and making art. 
• Know the difference between cave, tomb, fresco, tempera, encaustic, oil, acrylic, and resin painting. 
• Identify what toxic materials are used by artists, how artists are exposed, risk factors, effects on our bodies, and safety measures. 
• The difference, advantages, and disadvantages of stretcher bars and strainers, linen & cotton, natural wood and engineered wood products, metals, parchment, paper, Mylar, hide glue, PVA, polymer emulsions, gesso, oil and acrylic grounds, tempera, oil paint and brushes, mediums, varnishes, framing skills and storage strategies. 
• Relate information about paintings in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and PAFA Museum, including what can be determined from X-ray, inferred, and ultraviolet photography. 

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: Stanley K. Whitney, [Painting], 1974, Oil on linen over canvas board, 11 1/2 x 13 1/2 in. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Anonymous gift, 2013.32.2 

Register by: January 27 

Materials List 

CE Policy Guide Winter/Spring 2023 

CE Proof of Vaccination/Booster Form - SUBMISSION REQUIRED AT TIME OF REGISTRATION

Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Impasto is a technique in which paint is applied in very thick layers, often with visible brush or painting-knife strokes, to impart texture, expression, or even sculptural effects.  Impasto techniques have been an essential part of painting history, from the underlying vigorous brushwork of Renaissance artists to the distinctive mark-making of past and contemporary masters such as Rembrandt, Van Gogh, de Kooning, Soutine, Lucian Freud, and Auerbach. Learn techniques to build a thick, textured surface to find your own unique impasto style. 

Learning Objectives 

• Students will learn the history of the impasto painting technique. 
• Students will gain confidence in applying thick spontaneous layers of paint. 
• Students will loosen up and discover how to create a unique mark making signature. 
• Students will learn how to paint with a pallet knife and other tools.
• Students will discover the difference between direct and indirect painting. 
• Students will learn the important techniques of glazing, velatura, scumbling and dry brush. 

Image: Charles Muldowney, Sweet Potatoes, 2008, oil on panel, 6 x 13in. 

Register by:  March 14 

Materials List 

CE Policy Guide Winter/Spring 2023 

Zoom Technical Requirements 

Thursdays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Cultivate fluid mark-making and bold approaches to subject matter through rapid and loose painting studies.  Tight and precise painting, especially in the early stages of an artwork, can sometimes lead to work that appears stiff and over-labored, or to locked-in compositions that are difficult to change or correct. Working from the still life and cityscapes, utilize short, small painting exercises to learn new ways of starting paintings, keeping compositions open to adjustment, and both initiating and retaining a sense of freshness in your forms and brushstrokes. Instruction will address color mixing, making a practical setting for painting, and investigating new methodologies to apply to your paintings.  Discover the beauty and freedom of loosening up your painting!    

Learning Objectives: 

• Learn how to effectively make use of short, fast, and small painting exercises 
• Learn the importance and the effectiveness of setting a viable learning environment for painting 
• Learn effective color mixing along with use of materials and techniques 

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:  Roger Chavez, Untitled - Still Life.

Register by: March 14 

Materials List 

CE Policy Guide Winter/Spring 2023 

CE Proof of Vaccination/Booster Form - SUBMISSION REQUIRED AT TIME OF REGISTRATION