Course Description Making direct studies can be a great way to familiarize ourselves with a subject, get more comfortable with paint, and push ourselves to be more decisive with our color and form modeling decisions. In this class, students will make individual studies of various objects as a way of learning to understand the subjects and also the dynamics of how they interact with a light source. Studies like this would traditionally have been used to familiarize the artist with a particular subject, to test out variations on an idea, and to use as a reference later on in larger compositions. During these four days, students can bring in any objects they like in order to make a series of individual studies. You’ll be painting a new study each day so your time could be spent doing a series of studies of the same object or a new object each day. Our goal will be to create one finished object each day, so beginning students can pick simpler objects if they would like, while more advanced students can pick more complex objects. This is also a great opportunity to paint things which change quickly (such as flowers, cut fruit, etc.) but picking objects which wilt quickly is not mandatory. The first day will start with a lecture and demonstration by the instructor, and after that, students will be painting while the instructor comes around the room to give individual critiques. Time will be spent discussing color mixing, form modeling, paint handling, palette organization and also how historical artists used studies like these to create larger works of art. Whether you are new to painting, or a more experienced painter, this workshop will be a lot of fun and also a great way to push your understanding to the next level.