Painting Best Practices is now two technical workshops that teach skills not taught in art schools and universities—a comprehensive understanding of artists’ materials, what they are designed to do, when to choose them and how to provide considerable longevity to your artwork. The workshops cover the most important aspects of painting that have proven to be the best practices over the centuries.
Now Painting Best Practices is a webinar.
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These information-packed workshops include all aspects of constructing a painting, from the support and ground to the final layers. Practical procedures are clearly explained and demonstrated on how to build your paintings based on conservation research during the past century. Painting Best Practices workshops are designed for painters of all mediums, but particular emphasis is given to oil painting.
Learn more about the three-day Painting Best Practices Workshop.
Painting Best Practices Workout is the latest technical workshop on artists’ materials and best painting practices. This six-day course provides hands-on learning on preparing supports for painting, making and applying grounds, paint making, pigments, and selecting and applying varnishes. All materials for the Workout are provided with the tuition.
Workout attendance is limited to 12 students. Register early, so you do not miss out on this annual event.
Please register early, as the previous Workout was filled within the first two weeks after it was announced!
Six-Day Painting Best Practices Workout
Painting Best Practices Workout is the latest technical workshop on artists’ materials and best painting practices. This six-day course provides hands-on learning on preparing supports for painting, making and applying grounds, paint making, pigments, and selecting and applying varnishes.
Date and Location
We are postponing the Painting Best Practices Workout due to the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fire season here in California. We initially held the workshop at the end of the fire season each year (October), but last year showed us that the season could continue late into the year. So, we decided to hold the Workout at the beginning of the fire season (before May) this year, except now we are dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak. For this reason, we have decided to postpone it and hold the workshop in spring 2021. We will announce the new dates later this spring.
Date: To be announced
Location: Natural Pigments, 291 Shell lane, Willits, California
Instructors
George O’Hanlon
George O’Hanlon is the technical director of Natural Pigments and executive director of Iconofile, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to promoting the understanding of sacred art. George received his fine arts education and apprenticeship in Mexico. Upon his return to the United States, he worked as an art director and then creative director for Silicon Valley advertising agencies, working on major accounts like Sony, Hewlett-Packard, and Ricoh. He then established a marketing communications firm later acquired by the Japanese chemical giant, Shin-Etsu, where we were retained as president of U.S. marketing operations. In 1992, he left this post to study traditional art techniques, and then in 2001, he founded Iconofile and Natural Pigments to promote an understanding of these techniques among contemporary artists. Since then, he has formulated hundreds of artists’ paints and materials, including Ceracolors, a water-soluble wax paint.
Tatiana Zaytseva
Tatiana Zaytseva is the administrative director of Natural Pigments and secretary of Iconofile, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to promoting the understanding of sacred art. Tatiana received her education in fashion and design in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and a second degree in engineering process controls. After moving to the U.S. in 2001, she helped establish Iconofile and Natural Pigments in 2003.
Why Attend
Read why students of the first Workout (October 15–20, 2018) attended:
“Hands-on is best for me to learn, I need to process the ways to use the valuable information taught. Also I needed review.”
“Because you guys provide the most thorough material education in the industry!”
“The subject is disgracefully neglected by art schools throughout the United States. Students receive next to nothing substantive on how to actually build a painting or a drawing. My aim is to move in a different direction by introducing elements of sound practice to the learning cultures with which I engage, and direct.”
Do Participants Increase Their Skills and Knowledge?
Did former students think the Workout increased their skills/knowledge of painting materials and practices? Find out what they said:
“No brainer... greatly increased. Thank you.”
“The Workout was structured enough to feel very directed and productive, but also fluid and malleable enough to meet the unique needs of each participant. With this structure, I think there’s no way it COULDN’T increase one’s skills and knowledge!”
“George and Tania have been instrumental in awakening a conversation about what artists are using, how they construct their materials, and why it makes sense to be informed on the consequences.”
“This workshop/workout was fundamentally a more involved, hands-on and informative learning opportunity.”
Skills Attendees Found Most Useful
“I really liked the all activities. Listening in the morning and ’ doing' in the afternoon was great.”
“The ground preparation and application are all skills that I use and teach on a super regular basis, so it was useful to find different/better ways to do familiar processes. I frequently make paint and mediums using extender pigments, but was able to experiment with so many new pigments and oils that I had never used before—TOTALLY awesome. Varnish is something I had barely used, so was good to get my hands on it. Point is, the activities were equally useful, no matter my prior experience level.”
“I continue reflecting on the benefits of having that extender pigment day [Day 4]—the conversation that we had and the opportunity to profoundly change the behavior of oil paint with substances, such as barite. This experience alone was worthwhile because it replaced years of guessing.”
Were Students Satisfied
Students were overwhelmingly happy with the time and expense of the Workout. But don’t take our word; read what they said:
“First-rate. I really enjoyed Anton as well. He did a great job.”
“You guys are the best!”
“Outstanding instruction.”
“You are all terrific teachers.”
Workout Curriculum
The schedule provides essential hands-on skills to prepare supports, understand paint and mediums, varnish your painting, and with additional skills to clean paint films. You will also receive the most recent information on the composition of modern oil paints and an opportunity to experiment with different paint vehicles, such as egg tempera and casein.
Each day the Workout begins at 9:00 a.m. and finishes at 5:00 p.m., except Saturday, when the Workout will finish at noon.
Day 1: Monday
Introduction
Tour of Natural Pigments Factory
Review of best practices and introduction to the Workout curriculum
Preparing Supports for Painting
Review:
Surface Polarity, Wetting and Contact Angle, Tensile Strength, and Adhesion
Hands-on Skills:
Preparing animal collagen glue size for canvas and wood
Preparing and applying pavoloka (fabric) on solid wood panel (Poplar board) in preparation for traditional gesso
Applying fluid medium on a wood panel (MDF) to prevent support-induced discoloration (SID)
Applying tempera grounds on wood panel (MDF)
Day 2: Tuesday
Preparing Supports for Painting
Hands-on Skills:
Preparing and applying traditional gesso on solid wood (Poplar board)
Applying alkyd grounds on the ACM panel
Demonstration:
Mounting canvas using BEVA 371 film onto ACM panel
Hands-on Skills:
Mounting canvas with polymer adhesive onto ACM panel
Students learn the fundamentals of paint-making to help them become more skilled in handling paint in their work.
Day 3: Wednesday
Paint and Mediums
Review:
Pigment Hydrophilicity and Hydrophobicity, Pigment Wetting, Oil Absorption, Daniel Flow Point, Pigment Volume Concentration (PVC), and Pigment Dispersion
Demonstration:
Pigment wetting, oil absorption, and Daniel flow point, pigment dispersion (Hegman)
Hands-on Skills:
Paint made with several different pigment types: inorganic, natural, and organic synthetic in drying oil
Participants are briefed before preparing their painting mediums from various materials.
Day 4: Thursday
Paint and Mediums
Hands-on Skills:
Paintmaking continued with extender pigments in different oil types: bodied and unbodied
Paint making with egg yolk tempera
Understanding and using oil painting medium
Workshop participants prepare test panels of multiple varnishes on their paintings to determine the best varnish for their work.
Day 5: Friday
Varnishes and Solvents
Review:
Solvents and Solutes,
Hands-on Skills:
Cleaning paint surfaces in preparation for varnish
Varnishing your painting with four different resins
Advanced application techniques to overcome varnish problems, reduce gloss, and use wax paste
Day 6: Saturday
Modern Paints, Additives, Pigments, and Lightfastness
Presentation and troubleshooting problems encountered in painting techniques.
Awards of Certificates of Completion
During evenings we organize drawing/painting sessions with live models.
Requirements
To participate in the Workout, you must have already completed the Painting Best Practices Workshop or obtain approval from the instructors.
Learn more about the three-day Painting Best Practices Workshop.
Tuition and Registration
Tuition for the six-day Painting Best Practices Workout is only $950. A deposit of $475 is required upon registration. The balance must be received thirty days before the Workout date. The tuition is non-refundable except in the case the Workout is canceled. If you cannot attend the Workout for any reason, we may allow you to attend the Workout at a future date.
All handouts and materials for the Workout are provided with the tuition.
On each day of the Workout, we provide coffee, tea, and water throughout the day. The workshop includes light breakfast items from 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. each morning and lunch (sandwiches, wraps, salads) from about 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. You are responsible for your evening meal each day.
The tuition does not include meals (except as noted) and lodging. To register, please add the Workout Deposit to your shipping cart and proceed to pay for the deposit. You will receive confirmation of your registration.
Please register early, as the previous Workout was filled within the first two weeks after it was announced!
Cancellations
If you cancel the workshop, please note that the workshop tuition is non-refundable. If you cannot attend the workshop, you will be given a rain check to attend a workshop at the same or different location in the future. If we cancel the workshop, your tuition will be refunded entirely.