Dates: August 17-22, 2025
Hours: 11:00 a.m- 5:30 p.m

Throughout history France has played an important role in the world of art.  One would be hard pressed to find still life painters that rivaled the greats such as Chardin, and Anne Vallayer-Coster, to name a few.  In this 5-day workshop we will have the honor to not only paint in Angers, France, but in a museum surrounded by inspiring paintings, drawings, and sculpture.  Over the course of 5 days, artists will create a still life painting using objects that they themselves have sourced locally.  We will spend a day to shop the local markets, and arrange a composition based on the items chosen.  Through daily demonstrations and critiques, you will work side by side with the instructor to produce a finished painting, that not only represents the spirit of France, but the personal vision the artist has chosen.

Day 1

We will begin the day with shopping the local markets for our objects to paint.  There will be produce opportunities as well as antique / flea market finds.  The afternoon session will begin with a short tour of some of the collections’ still life paintings where we will discuss ideas around composition and also some techniques we might be able to glean from looking at past works, then implementing them ourselves.  We will talk about how to “read” a painting from a technical point of view, to make decisions about our own painting process.

Day 2

The day will start with a demonstration about value / poster studies.  How to quickly get the big idea for your painting as to investigate ideas of color, light, and shape design.  The late morning will be spent with the museums collection creating value studies in graphite, toned paper, and white chalk.  This will help us better understand how the old masters utilized tonal shapes in their compositions. Artists will then spend the afternoon producing a value (and, or) color study of their own.  Composition will be finalized after the studies are complete

Day 3

The day will start with a demonstration on blocking-in the painting, and what to look for as far as getting the drawing started.  We will discuss different approaches to the drawing with regards to line drawing vs. mass drawing, and what will serve the painting best for the individual.

 Day 4

The day will start with a demonstration on the first layer of paint, how to approach the subject matter with regards to items that might be perishable vs. non-perishable.  How to strategize transparent vs. opaque layers, and what to look for with regards to planning  the next stages beforehand in order to achieve the desired look in the painting. 

 Day 5

The day will start with a demonstration with regards to the second pass on the painting, which areas will get a second pass, which areas might already be considered “finished” from the previous days work

 Day 6

The finish!  How to finish a painting.  What is considered “finished” will be discussed, and we will spend the morning making an individual plan for each artists’ work in order to resolve the painting.