In this 1-day workshop, students will create an underlayer using a variety of mediums focusing on having a good distribution of values. Students can bring in their own piece of flora/fauna or choose from a provided one.

The process will include drawing in chalk or water soluble crayon as an underlayer, painting of negative space, and lastly, adding collage and paint to the artwork to add visual interest and to highlight areas of the revealed image from the underlayer.

About the Instructor: Tracy Allegro

Tracy is a contemporary mixed media artist from Quincy, Ma. A lifelong lover of art, she graduated from University of Massachusetts at Boston and also studied art at The Art Institute Of Boston and The School Of The Museum Of Fine Arts in Boston. A lot of Tracy’s work features collage and she is inspired by nature, flowers, people and animals. In addition to working from her home studio, Tracy also teaches in-person classes and participate in artisan events and gallery exhibits.

Materials List:

• Acrylic Paint - your favorite colors plus red, yellow, blue, black and white
• Mark Making Tools - variety of pens, colored pencils, china markers or regular markers, pastels, ink, crayons, etc.
• Papers to paint on - anything from mixed media paper, newsprint, old book pages, deli paper, etc. It’s good to have an assortment and Tracy will have some to choose from as well.
• Paint Brushes - 5 or so not expensive acrylic brushes in assorted sizes. 
• Stencils and stamps - bring what you have and Tracy will ave some as well.
• Matte or satin gel medium - whatever you have, Tracy uses liquitex. 
• Please bring a reference photo(s) of a plant or real leaves or flowers that you'd like to use. Tracy will also provide a plant and floral arrangements for inspiration. 
• Tracy will provide canvas boards

Curious about Abstract Painting? Do you love to work with color for its own sake? Has a strong abstract painting ever stopped you in your tracks at a museum or show? Have you ever searched an abstract painting, following each mark, hidden or revealed, and let your eye trail around a canvas, captivated by colors and their supporting shapes? 

In our class we will follow a method which builds, layer upon layer, a story on a canvas. We will explore color and how to manipulate it to its highest purpose (to support and showcase a different color? To shine on its own?) And to use marks which are uniquely our own, as well as collage if you like and all kinds of mark makers.

After getting her Art History degree at Wheaton College, Kelley continued taking art classes at various Art Associations for 10 years before she started painting.  First with watercolor, then oil and now happily with acrylic and mixed media, it has been a lifetime of growing and exploring all things art.  

Kelley has won numerous awards, and has taught classes and workshops for many years.  While for the majority of her career Kelley has been a literal, representational painter, in the past 4 years she has been diving into abstraction, particularly Intuitive Abstraction.  The history involved on the canvas, the multiple layers, the reveal and conceal and push and pull are what attracts her to this method. 

A favorite thing to do is to travel, and be inspired by different landscapes and  cityscapes.  Kelley has traveled to Holland to paint, along with many places on this side of the ocean, namely Nova Scotia, Sedona, Santa Fe, St. Simon’s Island, Seattle, San Miguel de Allende, MX, California and Maine. 

In 2009 Kelley founded the Artists’ Challenge Group “Girls Just Wanna Paint” which is a collection of award winning artists  who post a response to a new topic every month consecutively since July of 2009. Aside from the Providence Art Club Kelley is a member of the North River Arts Society in Marshfield, MA.  She has taught at the Art Club, Bristol Art Museum, and at North River Arts Society.

Materials List for Kelley MacDonald’s Abstract Painting Workshop

All, or as many as you can manage:

Disposable palette of any size  - but bigger is better!

Artist’s Tape (Painting tape OK too!)

Substrates: 

• Paper to paint on - watercolor or Canta-paper from strathmore, Bristol paper, etc. 
• Assortment of  canvases (12x12 to 18x18 – shape, size does not matter)
• one or two larger canvases - from 16x16 – 30x30 canvas or panel

Paint (Acrylic):

• one large tube of any kind of black paint, can be of a lesser grade than professional
• Gesso or large tube of white paint
• warm and cool of red, yellow and blue (ex. Alizarin or rose and cad red light, ultramarine and cerulean or pthalo blue, cad yellow medium and cad lemon)
• any other colors you like

Brushes and Mark Makers:

• 1-inch, 2-inch and 3 inch flat brushes if you have them
• a liner brush (from watercolor) and/or a small, tiny brush of your choice
• as huge a brush as you dare to bring!
• Any carving type item, credit card, (that you no longer use), Catalyst – Blick and Michaels sells them 
• Shapers, goo spreaders and palette knives

And (any of these):

• Stabilo pencils, vine charcoal, charcoal, derwent watercolor pencils, graphite pencils, any pastel sticks you like.  As long as you have SOME of these – you certainly don’t need all.  Pencils, yes, then some colored type pencils and/or pastel sticks, If you happen to have Neocolor or Neocolor II crayons, gel pencils or markers, colored or black and white – 
• Any type of gel medium for exploring collage, and any thin paper or colored paper to incorporate (NOT strictly necessary)
• Sprayer to keep acrylics moist
• Bucket or big yogurt/ricotta tub for water

BASCIALLY bring what you have - don’t go spend a fortune - we will have things to try~!

FLEX YOUR IMAGINATION

If you have taken an abstract class from me you probably already have everything you need!

Seeking the ability to truly “see”, we will observe the “extraordinary in the ordinary”, recording those brief glimpses in our journals....with words, line and color! This is as personal as your fingerprint! A journal can record thoughts, visual images from your environment, your travels, your imagination, metro tickets, wine labels, doodles in the margin, conversations, book lists...the simplest things!!! Think of it as a discipline of awareness...a giant step to creativity!!! The format might be a simple moleskine or a 17” long concertina journal. There are no limits or boundaries to creating your journal. In two days, we will explore these ideas with demonstrations and exercises with guidelines for opening up this world and a creative journal!

About the Instructor: Jane Smithers

“My pilgrimage into the world of art has defined my destiny and led me on a circuitous journey.  It has transformed my self as well as my circumstances.  I have constructed an independent identity- an adventurer by choice! Aspects of my personal history are much like some of the impressionists: being self taught and having chosen art relatively late in life. The purpose is a journey in itself and the art has become a source of faith and spirituality- an awakening to new levels of consciousness.”

Jane was born in Pennsylvania, raised in Ponce, Puerto Rico and has lived in London, Houston and Cashiers, NC. and New York City, where she now teaches and creates! Please see her website, www.janesmithers.com for extensive list of exhibitions, workshops, galleries, art work and reviews.

Materials List:

• Bring one Concertina/accordion journal plus any other type you are comfortable with (Moleskin, etc.)
• Watercolors
• Brushes, pencils, permanent and/or water soluble ink pens
• Gel pens, charcoal
• Glue stick, small ruler or postcard/credit card
• Bring your imagination, images of favorite things and a sense of adventure!!! 

In this intensive workshop with internationally acclaimed artist, instructor, and author Liz Haywood- Sullivan, we will explore the intricacies of painting water and reflections in pastel. We will use underpainting to assist the development of the layers of transparency found in water. Topics to be covered include depicting reflections, how water behaves when calm and when moving, water in the dramatic seascape, how to use aerial perspective principles in water to create distance, seeing and painting correct values, plus much more. Each day will start with a demonstration and there will be plenty of daily individual instruction at your easel. This is a studio workshop for artists with some pastel experience.

Instructor Bio:

Liz Haywood-Sullivan, PSA-MP, IAPS/EP, has been dedicated to working exclusively in the pastel medium since 1996. Her attraction to the medium is pastel's unique ability to capture light and atmosphere in the landscape. She is a sought-after instructor and judge for pastel societies and arts organizations around the world. Liz authored the popular book Painting Brilliant Skies and Water in Pastel (Northlight, 2013). Her award-winning pastel paintings have been featured in numerous books and magazine articles, and have appeared in national, international and museum exhibitions worldwide. Liz is a President Emerita of the International Association of Pastel Societies (2013-2017) and is the current president of the North River Arts Society in Massachusetts. Her work is represented by Vose Galleries of Boston. www.lizhaywoodsullivan.com

Materials List for Workshop: MaterialsList2024.pdf

Recommended Lodging for Out-of-Town students:

Inn at Scituate Harbor

Fairview Inn