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Oil/Acrylic Painting
in CE Courses by Medium/Discipline
Figure as a Point of Departure Workshop (Online)
with Kassem Amoudi
Friday – Sunday, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. (Live Zoom Only)
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi
Weekend Workshop
Credit: Non-Credit Only
If you are tired of getting lost in the details and traditional modes of representational painting and want to take a risk by exploring new ways of expressing the human form, this class is for you. Learn to paint and draw the human figure in a looser, more expressionistic contemporary manner. Expert instruction and advice from the instructor will push students to work more intuitively, allowing unplanned marks and passages to become artistic breakthroughs. PowerPoint presentations and examples of contemporary ways of using the figure will be provided to enhance your understanding of the abstract qualities of space, line and color. Sessions will include live painting time in the style of a traditional classroom environment, with critiques and advice from the instructor as he works one-on-one with each student. Open to all levels of figure drawing/painting experience, but students should have experience with using their materials of choice. Note: Due to the emphasis on live instructor feedback and in-class painting, this Zoom class is not recorded.
Image: Kassem Amoudi, Shadow 3 (detail), acrylic on canvas.
Register by: May 31
Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Fundamentals of Oil Painting (Online)
with Susan Sullivan
Thursdays, 6 – 9 p.m. (Zoom with posted Canvas content)
Instructor: Susan Sullivan
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only
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.
Image: Susan Sullivan, Malibu, Oil on panel, 16 x 16 in.
Register by: June 24
Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Impasto Painting (Online)
with Charles Muldowney
Tuesdays, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Zoom with posted Canvas content)
Instructor: Charles Muldowney
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only
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 in this course.
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.
Register by: June 24
Materials List
Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses
Oil Painting: Comprehending Color (In-Person)
with Roger Chavez
Wednesdays, 9 a.m - 12 p.m*
Instructor: Roger Chavez
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only
Without question, every oil painter benefits from color mixing instruction: Understanding how to accurately see, mix, and adjust color not only allows you to achieve the results you want in your work but also enables you to avoid the pitfalls of wasting paint though inaccurate and poorly understood pigment mixing. Explore key methods and principles for effective color mixing, using a limited palette to create prismatic hues and earth tone colors. Instruction will address the role of light in the visual perception of color, as well as subtractive and additive color systems. Work from varied still life arrangements to put your color comprehension into practice, and advance your painting skills for all subject matter.
*Note: No class on August 7.
Image: Roger Chavez
Register by: June 24
Materials List
Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Plein Air Painting in Valley Forge (Outdoor)
with Charles Muldowney
Wednesdays, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Instructor: Charles Muldowney
Five-Week Short Course (20 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only
Enjoy open-air painting in beautiful Valley Forge National Historical Park, the encampment site of George Washington’s Continental Army in 1777-1778 and now home to a painter’s delight of lush scenery and historic architecture! Located in Montgomery County, 35 minutes northwest of Center City Philadelphia, the park features great views of the Schuylkill River, Valley Creek, the Valley Forge Farm, Mt. Joy, Mt. Misery, and many valleys, cabins, and colonial houses, with ample parking and access to restrooms. Working from diverse landscape subject matter, students will learn the essential materials, tools, techniques, and strategies for painting on site. Instruction will cover a variety of plein air approaches, including painting with a knife and brush, painting from an imprimatura, Macchiaioli painting, and working from sketches to block in local color. Note: Students are responsible for their own transportation.
Image: Charles Muldowney, Valley Forge Sunset, Watercolor.
Register by: June 24
Materials List
Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Paint the Evening City (Outdoor)
with Frederic Kaplan
Tuesdays, 6 – 8:30 p.m.
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan
Four-Week Short Course (10 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only
Learn to paint the unique effects of evening light and activity of Center City and University City, Philadelphia. Discover techniques for managing the shifting light and shadows of the setting sun as it plays across the city’s historic architecture. This plein air option is perfect for summer painting, allowing artists to take advantage of cooling evening temperatures and the subtle or dramatic palette of sunset and dusk. Previous painting experience required. Restrooms near all locations. Note: Students are responsible for their own transportation to painting locations.
Image: Sybille Zeldin, Street Scene, Courtesy of student.
Register by: July 1
Materials List
Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
The Portrait in Oil (In-Person)
with Roberto Osti
Thursdays, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Instructor: Roberto Osti
Six-Week Condensed Course (36 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)
Paint portraits from a variety of models using the direct painting method. Examine the proportions and volumes of the head, as well as the placement, structure, and characteristics of the facial features, through preliminary drawings and demonstrations. Develop color using a limited palette to understand how to use chroma, temperature, value, tint, and tone. Instruction will address materials, composition, paint handling, and color mixing, blending, and theory. Homework assignments working from photos, Masterworks, or oneself/others will encourage students to learn to make personal aesthetic and technical choices and to practice concepts addressed in class. Open to all levels, this course is excellent for beginners as well as experienced students who want to review fundamental techniques or who simply enjoy painting portraits from life. Note: Course tuition includes a $50 model fee.
Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $745 (including models fee). Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.
Image: Roberto Osti, copy of William Paxton, in-class demonstration.
Register by: July 5
Materials List
Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Pour, Peel, and Paint: Abstract Techniques in Acrylics (In-Person)
with Anthony Ciambella
Thursdays, 1 - 4 p.m.
Instructor: Anthony Ciambella
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only
If you believe that painting can be more than applying brush to canvas, this course is for you. 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 paintings or mixed-media 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. Push the boundaries of what it means to paint with acrylics in this exciting exploration into experimental techniques.
Image: Anthony Ciambella.
Register by: July 5
Materials List
Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies