Saturday and Sunday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM  
Instructor: Theodore Xaras  
Weekend Workshop (14 Hours)  

This comprehensive workshop covers all aspects of painting a traditional portrait. Topics include achieving a likeness, modeling light and shade, mixing flesh tones and applying paint through various techniques. All participants will produce at least one finished portrait. Includes demonstrations and portrait history. Valuable information for all levels. Note: Tuition includes a $25 model fee.

Learning Objectives

• Students will learn to analyze and construct a portrait using clearly defined steps.
• Students will be able to achieve a likeness through the careful observation of shapes and their color/value equivalent, which together, form the “topography” of the face.
• Students will learn how to mix and adjust colors to produce accurate flesh tones.
• Students will be able to produce one completed portrait, either a head and shoulders or the entire torso and hands.
• Students will be able to paint a recognizable portrait from life.
• Students will gain an appreciation for the art of portraiture from their own work as well as becoming acquainted with historical and contemporary examples as a basis for further study.

Register by: October 9  
Materials List   
Please review CE’s Fall 2026 Policy Guide, including Withdrawal/Refund Policies, prior to registering.

Fridays, 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM  
Instructor: Roberto Osti  
Six-Week Online Short Course (Zoom + Asynchronous Content; 18-Hour Equivalent)  
No class on November 27 (Thanksgiving Break)  

Copying from masterworks is a time-honored form of artistic instruction and an excellent means of studying the art of portraiture in particular. Hone your oil painting skills using both alla prima (direct painting) techniques and indirect methods of building form and color through layers. Master painting references from artists such as Paxton, DeCosta, and Manet will be carefully selected to cover foundational paint-handling techniques, composition, color theory, and mixing flesh tones using a limited palette, as well as painterly methods for depicting the structure of the head, facial features, and hair. This class offers a fascinating way to internalize the techniques and aesthetic decisions of successful artists and incorporate them into your own artistic expression.

Register by: October 23  
Materials List   
Please review CE’s Fall 2026 Policy Guide, including Withdrawal/Refund Policies, prior to registering.

Saturdays, 10:00 AM - 1:30 PM  
Instructor: David Wilson  
Six-Week Short Course (21 Hours)  
No class on November 28 (Thanksgiving Break)  

Paint from a clothed model to advance your skills in portraiture and figure painting. Explore the proportions and anatomy of the head and neck structures, the definition of features, and how to capture expression and likeness, as well as conveying the gesture and construction of the figure with the incorporation of drapery/clothing. 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, and open- versus closed-form painting. All levels welcome. Instruction will be geared toward oil, but students are welcome to draw-only, or use other appropriate media, if they wish. Note: Tuition includes a $40 models fee.

Image: David Wilson

Register by: October 23  
Materials List   
Please review CE’s Fall 2026 Policy Guide, including Withdrawal/Refund Policies, prior to registering.

Mondays, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM  
Instructor: Shushana Rucker  
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)  

This six-week course focuses on the specific skills needed to successfully create small and miniature oil paintings. Students will learn how to adjust composition, simplify forms, and control detail so that images read clearly at a smaller size. Students will learn painting strategies which will make working at a smaller scale more approachable. Working from observation and/or reference, students will also explore how value, edges, and color relationships function differently in a compact format. Through demonstrations, exercises, and critique, participants will build confidence in making clear, deliberate decisions that suit the demands of painting small.

Register by: October 26  
Materials List  
Please review CE’s Fall 2026 Policy Guide, including Withdrawal/Refund Policies, prior to registering.

Tuesdays, 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Instructor: Roger Chavez  
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)  

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, cityscapes, and the life model, 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, painting materials and methodologies, and the importance of cultivating viablemethods for growth in your painting practice. Discover the beauty and freedom of loosening up your painting! Note: Tuition includes a $15 models fee.

Image: Roger Chavez

Register by: October 27  
Materials List  
Please review CE’s Fall 2026 Policy Guide, including Withdrawal/Refund Policies, prior to registering.

Wednesdays, 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM  
Instructor: Kate Moran
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)  

This six-week painting course invites students to explore color as a personal, sensory, and expressive language. Through sustained painting practice, students will investigate how color is shaped by what we see as well as by memory, emotion, place, atmosphere, and lived experience. 

Working in a variety of aqueous painting mediums, students will experiment with color relationships, expand beyond habitual palette choices, and develop greater sensitivity to the subtle shifts that make color feel luminous, unexpected, harmonious, or emotionally charged. The landscape, urban environment, photographs, and personal objects will provide starting points for paintings and opportunities to examine how observation can be transformed through individual perception. Photography, journaling, and close observation will be used as tools for gathering visual information and becoming more attentive to color in everyday life. Students will keep a color journal that may include photographs, written observations, collected images, painted studies, palette experiments, and other material that can be brought back into the studio and developed through painting.  Small-scale paintings and color studies will encourage experimentation, repetition, and risk-taking, guided by the examples of contemporary artists whose distinctive approaches to color reveal individual ways of seeing and interpreting the world.   

By the end of the course, students will have created a collection of studies that reflect an increasingly confident and personal approach to color.  No previous experience with color theory is required. All levels are welcome. 

Image: Kate Moran, Color Wheel, 2024, gouache on paper, 8 x 8 in.

Register by: October 28  
Materials List      
Please review CE’s Fall 2026 Policy Guide, including Withdrawal/Refund Policies, prior to registering.

Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM ,
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi  
Weekend Online Workshop (Zoom Only)  

Elevate the role of color and learn how to incorporate it both strategically and intuitively into your paintings under the guidance of artist/critic/mentor Kassem Amoudi. Examine concepts of temperature, value, saturation, and harmony/contrast through color relationships. Explore color’s role in creating focal points, suggesting space, influencing mark, and promoting personal expression. Work from personal subject matter (objects, images, emotions, or ideas) to develop your personal style, informed by examples from contemporary and modern art. Painting experience recommended.

Register by: November 13  
Materials List  
Please review CE’s Fall 2026 Policy Guide, including Withdrawal/Refund Policies, prior to registering.

Saturday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM  
Instructor: Shushana Rucker  
Weekend Workshop  

The painting knife is an important accompaniment to the brush for creating textural effects, expressive marks, and broad planes of color. Learn how to use this tool to achieve bold lines, crisp edges, and even fine details while working from still life or reference imagery. Explore color, texture, and painterly application as you expand your range of painting techniques for your own representational or abstract work.

Register by: November 30  
Materials List   
Please review CE’s Fall 2026 Policy Guide, including Withdrawal/Refund Policies, prior to registering.