The Pearl Ellis Gallery is offering two workshops this fall.
The first one, with instructor Clive Powsey, will take place over three Saturdays, Oct. 15, 22 and 29 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
The cost of this three-day workshop is $225 for gallery members and $255 for non-members. The workshop will be held in the Lions Den (lower level 1729 Comox Ave. — under the new Pearl Ellis Gallery).
The class size will be limited to 15. Registration ends Oct. 1. You may register for the workshop at the gallery during hours of operation or email Sheila at pearlellisgallery@shaw.ca.
Powsey entitles the workshop “Beauty and Terror: Painting on the Edge.”
“The landscape of the Comox Valley and Vancouver Island in general is one of extraordinary beauty but can also be overwhelming and even dangerous,” he stated. “Ships get lost in the waters, aircraft fall from the skies, and people disappear in the forests, canyons, and mountains. It is a dramatic landscape of the sort that 19th-century landscapists were thrilled to paint, and will be the subject of the painting in this three-day workshop.”
Powsey asks participants to bring their most dramatic reference photographs from the Comox Valley and Vancouver Island, and we will attempt to paint landscapes that try to suggest the beauty, drama and overwhelming sense of disorientation that you can actually feel when in the presence of a Sublime Landscape.
Watercolour will be the preferred medium, but oil and acrylics are welcome.
Some time will be spent viewing slides of contemporary and historic painting, photographs and other visual material dealing with subject matter, particularly landscape, whose subject matter might be described as “sublime.” Painting technique will be considered, but much attention will be devoted to extrapolating the subject matter, composition and visual devices observed in our slide presentation and applying them to our own painting to create compelling and dramatic images.
A second workshop will be offered for intermediate painters — “Understanding the Fundamentals” featuring instructor Brian Buckrell.
This workshop will take place over four Saturdays, Nov. 12, 19 and 26 and Dec. 3 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
The cost of this workshop is $300 for gallery members and $340 for non-members. The workshop will also be held in the Lions Den (lower level 1729 Comox Ave.).
Class size will be limited to 15. Registration ends Oct. 30. You may register for the workshop at the gallery during hours of operation or email Sheila at pearlellisgallery@shaw.ca.
Buckrell’s workshop will not be a typical skills-based (paint like me) workshop. Instead, it will be an information-based workshop intended to strengthen the basics required to improve our paintings.
Areas to be covered are: the elements of colour and how to use them, planning and working with values, creating form using light and shadow, perspective to create depth, accurate observation and how to manage it for effect, elements of composition, and designing an effective critique.
Buckrell will demonstrate each day using acrylics. In addition, he will be demonstrating his approach to working with acrylics, his studio setup and the equipment and supplies he uses.
— Pearl Ellis Gallery
