Filter by Category
Weekday Classes
in CE Courses by Day/Time
The Complete Portrait: Drawing and Anatomy (In-Person)
with Roberto Osti
Tuesdays, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Many artists consider the head and face to be the most challenging yet rewarding parts of the human form to draw or paint. Gain confidence in your ability to render the portrait by drawing from both PAFA’s historic casts and models with noted artist and author Roberto Osti. Learn the fundamental structural, anatomical, and proportional elements necessary to create structurally-correct, accurate, and life-like portraits. Practice a variety of time-honored drawing techniques, including graphite and charcoal on white paper, charcoal and chalk on toned paper, reduction techniques, and more. Topics will include the basic proportions and volumes of head and neck, the muscles, correct positioning of the facial features, the planes of the head, the skull structure, measuring techniques, line drawing, and tonal rendering.
This intensive morning and afternoon course will start each session with a one-hour demonstration, covering the structure anatomy and physiognomic aspects of the head and neck. Students will then apply this anatomy knowledge toward drawing the portrait – first from renowned portrait busts in PAFA’s beautiful, natural-light-filled Historic Cast Hall, then from life, from a diverse array of models. Instruction will include homework exercises for further practice, using photographic references and Master drawings to study the theoretical and practical aspects of the subject and a variety of techniques. This course is perfect for artists of all levels interested in mastering this fascinating subject. Note: Course tuition includes a $50 models fee.
Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $745 (including model fee). Select credit option when registering.
Image: Roberto Osti, Portrait of Megan, colored pencil on toned paper.
Register by: May 9
Digital Drawing and Painting (In-Person)
with Deon Robinson
Thursdays, 1 - 4 p.m.
Explore drawing and painting beyond paper and canvas! Learn to create artworks on the computer using Adobe Photoshop and digital pen tablets. Apply drawing and painting concepts such as line quality, color, value, and mark-making techniques as you use your stylus like a brush or pencil withthe computer screen or tablet as your digital canvas. Generate portfolios that focus on extending fine art principles into the virtual realm in the development of character designs, concept art, game art, or other pre-visual development. This course is also appropriate to anyone interested in translating their drawing/painting skills to another medium for their personal art-making practice. Students will utilize programs and equipment through PAFA’s illustration department – an excellent way to learn to work with digital art-making products without, or prior to, purchasing.
Image: Deon Robinson.
Register by: May 12
In-Depth Watercolor, Summer 1 (In-Person)
with James Toogood
Fridays, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Enrich your knowledge of painting with an in-depth look at watercolor. Thoroughly investigate a wide range of watercolor materials and techniques from your choice of landscape, still life, portrait, and figure subjects. Open to watercolorists of all levels and to acrylic/oil painters looking to broaden their skills.
Learning Objectives
- Students will learn about color theory as applied to watercolor.
- Students will receive a comprehensive explanation of watercolor materials and tools, with particular focus will be paid to the properties of paint and pigments as they interact with the paintbrushes and paper.
- Through both discussions and demonstrations, first time participants and beginners will learn a variety of techniques that are fundamental to watercolor, presented in a systematic step by step method. Participants can expect to have regular individual instruction, given at their current skill level.
- Focus also will be paid on acquiring the skills needed to achieve a richness of color and a feeling of light.
- Participants will work from direct observations from the still life and model, as well as from one’s own source materials.
- Those not taking the class for credit will have the option to work on landscape, still life, portrait and figure or abstraction, as they wish.
- Participants will be exposed to a variety of watercolor styles and encouraged to discover one’s own personal aesthetic.
- The course is ultimately designed to equip participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to make accomplished, personally rewarding watercolor paintings.
Optional: This course is available for 1.5 undergraduate credits for $995. Select credit option when registering.
Image: James Toogood, Bermuda.
Register by: May 12
Confident Acrylics (Online)
with Charles Muldowney
Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Discover and explore the characteristics of acrylics so that you can paint with confidence! Acrylic paint can imitate oil paint and watercolor paint, yet it has its own exceptional assets and characteristics not available with these other media. Its vibrant color, versatility, and layering capabilities make it the preferred medium of artists like David Hockney, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, Bridget Riley, Helen Frankenthaler and Murray Dessner. Work from still life, self-portrait, window-view, and photographic subjects to practice a variety of application techniques, use of materials, and color mixing principles. Presentations, demonstrations, exercises, and projects will promote familiarity and experimentation with this accessible medium. Learn:
- Acrylic painting with traditional application methods, such as direct and indirect painting, wet-on-wet, grisaille, camaieu, glazing, velatura, dry brush, and stipple approaches
- Impasto techniques of working with thick paint using a pallet knife and other tools
- How to use oil over acrylic paint
- Use of the historic Zorn and Apelles palettes
- Essential color and design principles
- Experimental practices, including alcohol resist, wax resist, rollers, spreaders, scrapers, mixed media, and spattering
Image: Charles Muldowney.
Register by: Registration Still Open! Recordings are available for online courses.
Mixed Media Explorations: 2D, 3D, and Beyond (Online)
with Colleen O'Donnell
Tuesdays, 1 - 3 p.m.
Explore alternative ways of conceptualizing and creating mixed media art that erases the divide between flat and sculptural work. Two- and three-dimensional techniques have been an important part of modern art history, from the whimsy of Robert Rauschenberg to the politically-charged Jasper Johns and the revealing works of Kiki Smith. Learn how to combine 2D and 3D elements such as paper, photos/imagery, found objects, mementos, and drawn/painted subjects to create a contemporary expression of your own. Intrinsically engage the unconscious while drawing on elements of design to reflect a point of view and a moment in time through this powerful art form.
Image: Patti Rosenberg.
Register by: Registration Still Open! Recordings are available for online courses.
Painting Over the Line, Summer 1 (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: Registration Still Open!
The Art of Natural History (Online)
with Kate Samworth
Wednesdays, 3 - 5 p.m.
Examine the social, scientific, religious, political, and economic factors that influenced centuries of cataloging the natural world, from ancient Greece to the Enlightenment. In this course, which combines art history with hands-on studio practice, students will learn to identify and imitate the traditional printmaking techniques that are integral to natural history illustration through a series of demonstrations in mixed media. Two-hour hands-on sessions will meet weekly, accompanying one-hour recorded presentations on art history that will be available for viewing at the student’s convenience. Each week will highlight a different topic in science including botany, ornithology, zoology, anatomy, entomology, cabinets of curiosity, marine life, and geometry in nature. Note: For intermediate-level students; prior still life drawing experience required.
Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $595. Select credit option when registering.
Image: Kate Samworth, Pollinators.
Register by: Registration Still Open! Recordings are available for online courses.
Figure Drawing in Charcoal and Pastel (In-Person)
with Deon Robinson
Thursdays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
A cornerstone of PAFA’s studio instruction, figure drawing is a challenging, engaging practice that benefits artists for portfolio building or in developing skills for figure-based work in any media. Working in charcoal and colored soft pastel, students will work from a variety of models in short and extended poses to explore human anatomy and proportions, value drawing with chiaroscuro, and the application of elementary color theory to produce achromatic and color drawings from observation. Open to all levels. Tuition includes a $35 models fee.
Image: Deon Robinson.
Register by: May 12