The Barrie Art Club

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Workshop Title

Build your Own Plein Air Easel and Get Outside!

Level

Beginner
Beginner (with some experience)
Intermediate
Advanced

Medium

Oil

... Other medium:

acrylic, watercolour

Subject / Focus

Build your own easel and paint landscapes from life

Class Description

We will build our own "plein air" easel for a fraction of the cost of buying it. It is easy and requires no special skills beyond using a power drill. As well, we will learn and practice a recipe for successful outdoor painting.

All materials to build an easel will be supplied for an extra fee, included in registration.

About the Artist

Barbara taught visual arts at the high school level for 30 years. She retired in 2017 to work as a full time artist. She is past president of the Ontario Society of Artists and has exhibited in juried exhibitions throughout Ontario. She lives in Tiny Township and paints the landscapes she loves.

Instructor website

barbarasimmonsart.com

Instructor phone

416 948 0120

Instructor Email

barbarasimmonsfineart@gmail.com

Supplies Students Should Bring:

Paint / art media

For each session of painting, A warm and cool version of each: yellow, red and blue, plus Titantium White and chroma black (or your favourite black). I use mostly M. Graham oil paints- they are a lovely consistency and the walnut oil has very low smell. swintonsart.com in Calgary has good prices, an excellent selection and they ship to Ontario.
Suggested:

Yellow- Cadmium yellow lemon(c) Cadmium yellow medium (w)
Red- Quinacridone Rose (c) Cadmium red medium (w) or Napthol
Blue- Ultramarine Blue (c) Manganese Blue Hue (w)
Titanium White
a transparent mixing black: Chroma Black (M Graham) or Chromatic Black (Gamblin) or your favourite black
Plus Indian Yellow (a transparent orange) yellow ochre, transparent red oxide (or perylene maroon)

Art Surface / Support

5x7, 6x6 or 8x10 canvas boards or birch panels, gessoed and ready to go. Bring 2-3 per session. Sketchbook for planning- 5x7 inches or what you have on hand.

Supplies and Tools

Brushes- #6,8,10
Pencil and eraser. Nice to have: water soluble pencils in HB (light) and 4B (dark) plus a small watercolour brush or water brush.

For easel building session 1: Drill with bits and drivers for Phillips and green and yellow robertson. Wood clamps (2) safety glasses.
For all sessions: Outdoor easel with palette (from first class) and sturdy tripod. water or gamsol, viewfinder, paper towel or rags.

Reference materials

See photo of plein air easel. Detailed instructions will be provided for reference. Barbara will have tools available for use to share.

Misc

All materials to build the easel will be provided by Barbara Simmons, FEE REQUIRED.

Bring own art supplies for practice canvasses.

Materials Instructor Will Bring:

Materials Fee $ per Student

$100

Materials the instructor will provide

easel building kit for 8x10 outdoor sketch easel includes wood pieces, screws, T nut (to attach to tripod) glass palette and tension hinge to build your own easel. Glue and a limited number of wood clamps provided.

Items made available for purchase

none

Workshop Outline: Complete boxes accordingly (as noted under each box)

Session 1

Build your own outdoor sketch easel- no woodworking skills required. Using the supplied kit and a drill, we will construct our own simple but light and effective easel.

While the glued and screwed pieces dry, we will learn about the plein air approach: how to tame that wide wide world.

Framing: Use a viewfinder to choose a manageable scene from what is in front of you.

Composition and planning: refining the shapes and values to make a good composition. (Notan and value sketch)

Mixing the colours: make a few basic mixes for the colours in your scene which you can alter as you go.

Sketch your scene and paint!
Quick show and tell at the end to admire and learn from each other.
Location: Barrie Art Club