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Workshops are listed in chronological order.
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Sign up for the mailing list to be notified of new workshops.
Contact us at blackpondstudio@gmail.com with questions.
Workshops are listed in chronological order.
Scroll down for complete listings.
THE HEAD EXAMINED THROUGH TIME
WITH CATHERINE KEHOE
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
June 15-19, 2020
Monday-Friday
10 a.m.-4 p.m. each day. (Eastern US time)
ONLINE COURSE: Portraits from art history will be the point of departure for study of pictorial structure and invention, with a focus on the head. We will work from reproductions of portraits from art history. You may work from postcards, photocopies from books, or images on your devices (tablet or laptop). We will touch upon the universal proportions of the head. Mediums will include graphite, charcoal, collage, gouache, acrylic and/or oil paint or materials you have on hand. Each participant will look deeply at one or two images and generate permutations through exercises that lead to simplification and abstraction. This rigorous and wide-ranging analysis of images from our painting ancestors will feed our own work and imaginations as we engage with images that speak to us still.
Daily schedule: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
(Eastern US time)
Image presentation: 10-11 a.m.
(Eastern US time)
Work on the exercise of the day
30-minute break
~ 1 p.m. upload images of exercise in progress
Continue with the exercise.
~ 4 p.m. upload images of exercise as is, with brief group conversation
24-hour studio access! to continue or finish exercise.
Limited to 15 participants
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
June 15-19, 2020
Monday-Friday
10 a.m.-4 p.m. each day. (Eastern US time)
ONLINE COURSE: Portraits from art history will be the point of departure for study of pictorial structure and invention, with a focus on the head. We will work from reproductions of portraits from art history. You may work from postcards, photocopies from books, or images on your devices (tablet or laptop). We will touch upon the universal proportions of the head. Mediums will include graphite, charcoal, collage, gouache, acrylic and/or oil paint or materials you have on hand. Each participant will look deeply at one or two images and generate permutations through exercises that lead to simplification and abstraction. This rigorous and wide-ranging analysis of images from our painting ancestors will feed our own work and imaginations as we engage with images that speak to us still.
Daily schedule: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
(Eastern US time)
Image presentation: 10-11 a.m.
(Eastern US time)
Work on the exercise of the day
30-minute break
~ 1 p.m. upload images of exercise in progress
Continue with the exercise.
~ 4 p.m. upload images of exercise as is, with brief group conversation
24-hour studio access! to continue or finish exercise.
Limited to 15 participants
TRANSCRIBING ITALIAN MASTERS
WITH LUCY MacGILLIS
July 9-13, 2020
10 a.m.-4 p.m. US east coast time
7 a.m.-1 p.m. US west coast time
4 p.m.-10 p.m. Italy time
Lucy will be live, and meet with participants, at the beginning, middle and end of each day of the workshop.
In this five-day ONLINE course, painters will look closely at 500 year old Italian masterpieces, investigating what makes them so powerful. Using transcription, we will draw from these paintings each morning, not copying, but searching for the brilliant uses of rhythm, duality and repetition within the geometry of each. From Piero della Francesca to Tintoretto, Raffaello and concluding with Florentine master Pontormo, we will explore a specific painting on paper and in a discussion (using Zoom.) In the afternoons, participants will create a painting sketch to better grasp the use of color in that day's masterpiece.
Each participant will receive a kit in the mail, prior to the course, containing the prints of the five paintings we will transcribe as well as paper measured in proportion to the works. There will also be hand primed paper provided for afternoon painting studies.
Limited to 12 participants.
July 9-13, 2020
10 a.m.-4 p.m. US east coast time
7 a.m.-1 p.m. US west coast time
4 p.m.-10 p.m. Italy time
Lucy will be live, and meet with participants, at the beginning, middle and end of each day of the workshop.
In this five-day ONLINE course, painters will look closely at 500 year old Italian masterpieces, investigating what makes them so powerful. Using transcription, we will draw from these paintings each morning, not copying, but searching for the brilliant uses of rhythm, duality and repetition within the geometry of each. From Piero della Francesca to Tintoretto, Raffaello and concluding with Florentine master Pontormo, we will explore a specific painting on paper and in a discussion (using Zoom.) In the afternoons, participants will create a painting sketch to better grasp the use of color in that day's masterpiece.
Each participant will receive a kit in the mail, prior to the course, containing the prints of the five paintings we will transcribe as well as paper measured in proportion to the works. There will also be hand primed paper provided for afternoon painting studies.
Limited to 12 participants.
EXPRESSIVE POSSIBILITIES IN PAINTING FROM PHOTOS 1
WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
August 17-21, 2020
Monday-Friday
8 a.m.-2 p.m. US Pacific time
11 a.m.-5 p.m. US eastern time
5 p.m.-11 p.m. Europe time
ONLINE WORKSHOP. Photography as a reference in painting is as old as the photograph itself. It is a tremendous tool that can transform the painter’s practice and content. The workshop will be centered on working from photos.The first two days will be spent painting short exercises. The rest of the week will be devoted to three paintings. They will be discussed at the end of the last day. There will be presentations, demonstrations and group discussions to try to maintain the intimate environment of a normal workshop.
Jennifer will be live for the first hour of each day to introduce the exercises and give demos or slideshows.
She will meet again with the group 1.5 hours before the end of the day for discussion of the work.
Materials:
Assortment of oils, brushes, medium such as Galkyd Lite
Newsprint
Any of the following supports: Canvas, panels, gessoed boards or paper for oils,
Chair or two as still life object
Still life objects
Photos will be provided
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
August 17-21, 2020
Monday-Friday
8 a.m.-2 p.m. US Pacific time
11 a.m.-5 p.m. US eastern time
5 p.m.-11 p.m. Europe time
ONLINE WORKSHOP. Photography as a reference in painting is as old as the photograph itself. It is a tremendous tool that can transform the painter’s practice and content. The workshop will be centered on working from photos.The first two days will be spent painting short exercises. The rest of the week will be devoted to three paintings. They will be discussed at the end of the last day. There will be presentations, demonstrations and group discussions to try to maintain the intimate environment of a normal workshop.
Jennifer will be live for the first hour of each day to introduce the exercises and give demos or slideshows.
She will meet again with the group 1.5 hours before the end of the day for discussion of the work.
Materials:
Assortment of oils, brushes, medium such as Galkyd Lite
Newsprint
Any of the following supports: Canvas, panels, gessoed boards or paper for oils,
Chair or two as still life object
Still life objects
Photos will be provided
EXPRESSIVE POSSIBILITIES IN PAINTING FROM PHOTOS 2
WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI
August 24-28, 2020
Monday-Friday
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
8 a.m.-2 p.m. US Pacific time
11 a.m.-5 p.m. US eastern time
5 p.m.-11 p.m. Europe time
ONLINE WORKSHOP. Photography as a reference in painting is as old as the photograph itself. It is a tremendous tool that can transform the painter’s practice and content. The workshop will be centered on working from photos.The first two days will be spent painting short exercises. The rest of the week will be devoted to three paintings. They will be discussed at the end of the last day. There will be presentations, demonstrations and group discussions to try to maintain the intimate environment of a normal workshop.
Jennifer will be live for the first hour of each day to introduce the exercises and give demos or slideshows.
She will meet again with the group 1.5 hours before the end of the day for discussion of the work.
Materials:
Assortment of oils, brushes, medium such as Galkyd Lite
Newsprint
Any of the following supports: Canvas, panels, gessoed boards or paper for oils,
Chair or two as still life object
Still life objects
Photos will be provided
August 24-28, 2020
Monday-Friday
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
8 a.m.-2 p.m. US Pacific time
11 a.m.-5 p.m. US eastern time
5 p.m.-11 p.m. Europe time
ONLINE WORKSHOP. Photography as a reference in painting is as old as the photograph itself. It is a tremendous tool that can transform the painter’s practice and content. The workshop will be centered on working from photos.The first two days will be spent painting short exercises. The rest of the week will be devoted to three paintings. They will be discussed at the end of the last day. There will be presentations, demonstrations and group discussions to try to maintain the intimate environment of a normal workshop.
Jennifer will be live for the first hour of each day to introduce the exercises and give demos or slideshows.
She will meet again with the group 1.5 hours before the end of the day for discussion of the work.
Materials:
Assortment of oils, brushes, medium such as Galkyd Lite
Newsprint
Any of the following supports: Canvas, panels, gessoed boards or paper for oils,
Chair or two as still life object
Still life objects
Photos will be provided
COLOR RULES
WITH NANCY McCARTHY
NOW ONLINE
September 11-13, 2020
Friday-Sunday
Color Rules! It does, absolutely, but there are NO rules, no formulas, no tricks. There is intention, getting color to say what you want it to say. In this intensive workshop we consider basic color concepts such as value, hue, and saturation and learn how to manipulate them to energize our work. Building color relationships with gouache on paper helps up understand how color functions and to build our personal color vocabulary. This workshop is meant for anyone working with color: painters, designers, architects, etc. We will use Zoom to meet as as group, view image presentations, share and discuss work.
NOW ONLINE
September 11-13, 2020
Friday-Sunday
Color Rules! It does, absolutely, but there are NO rules, no formulas, no tricks. There is intention, getting color to say what you want it to say. In this intensive workshop we consider basic color concepts such as value, hue, and saturation and learn how to manipulate them to energize our work. Building color relationships with gouache on paper helps up understand how color functions and to build our personal color vocabulary. This workshop is meant for anyone working with color: painters, designers, architects, etc. We will use Zoom to meet as as group, view image presentations, share and discuss work.
LINEAGE INTO PAINT
WITH CATHERINE KEHOE
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL.
October 10-14, 2020
Saturday-Wednesday
ONLINE WORKSHOP. Photos of ancestors — those we have known in life and those we can know only from the images — will be the sources for this workshop. These photos might trigger a narrative, imaginary or real. We might begin with an impulse for detail and description, a desire to imagine those we can know in no other way. The ultimate goal will be reduction and a search for how much is enough. By analyzing the images as designs in a rectangle, breaking down the pictorial elements through simplification and abstraction, we will build drawings and paintings that stand on their own. Mediums will include graphite, collage, acrylic and/or oil paint.
We will meet online two or three times each day, and share the work, on Zoom.
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL.
October 10-14, 2020
Saturday-Wednesday
ONLINE WORKSHOP. Photos of ancestors — those we have known in life and those we can know only from the images — will be the sources for this workshop. These photos might trigger a narrative, imaginary or real. We might begin with an impulse for detail and description, a desire to imagine those we can know in no other way. The ultimate goal will be reduction and a search for how much is enough. By analyzing the images as designs in a rectangle, breaking down the pictorial elements through simplification and abstraction, we will build drawings and paintings that stand on their own. Mediums will include graphite, collage, acrylic and/or oil paint.
We will meet online two or three times each day, and share the work, on Zoom.
WATERCOLOR: BREAK NEW GROUND
WITH ELIZABETH O'REILLY
ONLINE WORKSHOP
October 24-28, 2020
Saturday-Wednesday
Expand your watercolor fluency by experimenting with value, color, mark making and scale. Through a variety of exercises and techniques including staining, texture, dry brush, wet on wet and accidents, you will become more aware of how to manipulate the medium while maintaining its fluidity. Multiple studies will be created using references from nature. Other exercises may include working large (to put our body motion into the strokes), working abstractly, and creating collages from students’ own drawings and paintings. Looking at images of contemporary watercolor will be included. Participants should have some previous experience with watercolor.
This workshop will be held on Zoom, with three one-hour meetings per day.
ONLINE WORKSHOP
October 24-28, 2020
Saturday-Wednesday
Expand your watercolor fluency by experimenting with value, color, mark making and scale. Through a variety of exercises and techniques including staining, texture, dry brush, wet on wet and accidents, you will become more aware of how to manipulate the medium while maintaining its fluidity. Multiple studies will be created using references from nature. Other exercises may include working large (to put our body motion into the strokes), working abstractly, and creating collages from students’ own drawings and paintings. Looking at images of contemporary watercolor will be included. Participants should have some previous experience with watercolor.
This workshop will be held on Zoom, with three one-hour meetings per day.
THE LANGUAGE OF ABSTRACTION
WITH DEBORAH ZLOTSKY
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
November 9-11, 2020
Monday-Wednesday
ONLINE WORKSHOP. Through an integrative, critical, and sequential process, participants will create develop their own distinctive language to create new abstract works. Varied drawing experiences will help participants build vocabulary, create space and structure, and investigate what’s possible. The 3-day drawing workshop will become an experimental lab to generate new work informed by presentations, discussions, visual strategizing, and studio exploration. A description of an assignment to be completed before the start of the workshop will be sent to each participant with instructions and examples. The completed assignment is instrumental in launching the process covered by the workshop. Workshop will be held on Zoom, and work will be shared on Google Drive. Three meetings each day.
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
November 9-11, 2020
Monday-Wednesday
ONLINE WORKSHOP. Through an integrative, critical, and sequential process, participants will create develop their own distinctive language to create new abstract works. Varied drawing experiences will help participants build vocabulary, create space and structure, and investigate what’s possible. The 3-day drawing workshop will become an experimental lab to generate new work informed by presentations, discussions, visual strategizing, and studio exploration. A description of an assignment to be completed before the start of the workshop will be sent to each participant with instructions and examples. The completed assignment is instrumental in launching the process covered by the workshop. Workshop will be held on Zoom, and work will be shared on Google Drive. Three meetings each day.
THE OBJECT AS ACTOR
WITH NANCY GRUSKIN
March 6-8, 2021
Saturday-Monday
“A good actor can have a part in ten different plays; an object can play a role in ten different pictures.” Henri Matisse
In this three-day workshop, we will make drawings, collages, and paintings of still life objects. These objects will serve as a springboard for experimentation and individual expression. Exercises will focus on playing with form, color and composition, as we see how far we can push our work’s relationship to reality. As we become more acquainted with these objects during the course of the workshop, we will take more liberties with their depiction, incorporating invented imagery and outside source material. Artists will be working in collage and with drawing materials, and water-based and/or oil paint. Slide shows of the work of modern and contemporary artists will supplement the exercises. This workshop is intended to invigorate the practice of newer and more experienced artists alike.
March 6-8, 2021
Saturday-Monday
“A good actor can have a part in ten different plays; an object can play a role in ten different pictures.” Henri Matisse
In this three-day workshop, we will make drawings, collages, and paintings of still life objects. These objects will serve as a springboard for experimentation and individual expression. Exercises will focus on playing with form, color and composition, as we see how far we can push our work’s relationship to reality. As we become more acquainted with these objects during the course of the workshop, we will take more liberties with their depiction, incorporating invented imagery and outside source material. Artists will be working in collage and with drawing materials, and water-based and/or oil paint. Slide shows of the work of modern and contemporary artists will supplement the exercises. This workshop is intended to invigorate the practice of newer and more experienced artists alike.
DRAWING MARATHON
WITH GWEN STRAHLE
MARCH 27-30, 2021
Saturday-Tuesday
Drawing can be painterly, whether using charcoal, pencil or ink. This workshop will stimulate and maintain a continuous flow of drawing energy and examination. We will work from a still-life set-up that includes the model, using various materials and approaches. Exercises will be woven into the structure, including drawing from memory, gestures, drawing from other members of the studio. We will build abstractly to serve observation — drawing, re-drawing, re-thinking, re-seeing, re-working, to pull the drawing out from the inside, through process. Let’s make changes in order to dig deeper into the drawing experience, and provide opportunity for new invention. And, of course, it’s a marathon, so non-stop drawing...
Price includes model fee.
MARCH 27-30, 2021
Saturday-Tuesday
Drawing can be painterly, whether using charcoal, pencil or ink. This workshop will stimulate and maintain a continuous flow of drawing energy and examination. We will work from a still-life set-up that includes the model, using various materials and approaches. Exercises will be woven into the structure, including drawing from memory, gestures, drawing from other members of the studio. We will build abstractly to serve observation — drawing, re-drawing, re-thinking, re-seeing, re-working, to pull the drawing out from the inside, through process. Let’s make changes in order to dig deeper into the drawing experience, and provide opportunity for new invention. And, of course, it’s a marathon, so non-stop drawing...
Price includes model fee.
COLLAGE AFTER MASTERS
WITH ROTEM AMIZUR
May 1-4, 2021
Saturday-Tuesday
We will begin by painting papers with colors that excite us. Then, looking at old masters’ paintings, we will choose hues that create a sensation equivalent to what is evoked by them. Working only with our pre-painted papers helps us find unexpected color combinations. We look for relationships that feel good as opposed to "mixing the colors out there." Once colors are chosen and satisfying to us, we can dive into the continuous cycle of building, overlapping, changing and moving the cutout shapes — thus experiencing painting, drawing, observation, and invention as inseparable.
We will work small, with foam board and pins, pinning the cut-out shapes as we go along. Pinning as opposed to immediately gluing gives us a chance to constantly move shapes around. Making a variation, then another and another... Each new combination of colors leads us to see the reproduction in a new way — memory and familiarity making the game even more exciting and giving us the courage to make decisions we wouldn’t have dreamed of in the beginning. We are using the masters as our source but creating something distinctly personal and our own.
May 1-4, 2021
Saturday-Tuesday
We will begin by painting papers with colors that excite us. Then, looking at old masters’ paintings, we will choose hues that create a sensation equivalent to what is evoked by them. Working only with our pre-painted papers helps us find unexpected color combinations. We look for relationships that feel good as opposed to "mixing the colors out there." Once colors are chosen and satisfying to us, we can dive into the continuous cycle of building, overlapping, changing and moving the cutout shapes — thus experiencing painting, drawing, observation, and invention as inseparable.
We will work small, with foam board and pins, pinning the cut-out shapes as we go along. Pinning as opposed to immediately gluing gives us a chance to constantly move shapes around. Making a variation, then another and another... Each new combination of colors leads us to see the reproduction in a new way — memory and familiarity making the game even more exciting and giving us the courage to make decisions we wouldn’t have dreamed of in the beginning. We are using the masters as our source but creating something distinctly personal and our own.
PAINTING THE FIGURE WITH THE ITALIAN EARTH PALETTE
WITH LUCY MacGILLIS
RESCHEDULED FOR JULY 2021
DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED
Sunday-Tuesday
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL.
Please email blackpondstudio@gmail.com to be added to the wait list.
In this intense three-day course, Lucy MacGillis shares her love for paint, beginning with its creation — mixing raw earth pigments from Italy with linseed oil. Working directly from observation of the model, participants learn not only how to create their own paint, but are guided in looking closely at the tones of the figure before them. By limiting the range of colors, painters use the relationships between colors to give them more force.
Using herculaneum and pozzuoli red, warm italian earth, yellow ochre, naples yellow, earth green, herculaneum blue, burnt and raw umber, roman black earth, and titanium white, participants are encouraged to paint with the palette knife via trial and error, mixing, placing the paint and scraping it off as needed — the result being a harmonious study of space, color and form.
Working directly from the observation of the nude model, participants are encouraged to simplify the figure into simple, carefully mixed planes of color.
On the each day there will be several fast studies as well as longer poses. Each day ends in a group critique including art historical examples, referring back to the Italian tradition of figure painting.
RESCHEDULED FOR JULY 2021
DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED
Sunday-Tuesday
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL.
Please email blackpondstudio@gmail.com to be added to the wait list.
In this intense three-day course, Lucy MacGillis shares her love for paint, beginning with its creation — mixing raw earth pigments from Italy with linseed oil. Working directly from observation of the model, participants learn not only how to create their own paint, but are guided in looking closely at the tones of the figure before them. By limiting the range of colors, painters use the relationships between colors to give them more force.
Using herculaneum and pozzuoli red, warm italian earth, yellow ochre, naples yellow, earth green, herculaneum blue, burnt and raw umber, roman black earth, and titanium white, participants are encouraged to paint with the palette knife via trial and error, mixing, placing the paint and scraping it off as needed — the result being a harmonious study of space, color and form.
Working directly from the observation of the nude model, participants are encouraged to simplify the figure into simple, carefully mixed planes of color.
On the each day there will be several fast studies as well as longer poses. Each day ends in a group critique including art historical examples, referring back to the Italian tradition of figure painting.