LIVE ONLINE COURSE
Landscape Essentials: The language of shape and the art of simplification
with Mitchell Albala, Master Artist & Mentor
Learn how to simplify and translate nature’s complexity into fewer and more readable shapes and patterns. This is the most important skill for the landscape painter.
Learn How To:
How a LIMITED FOCUS is the first step of simplification
How LIMITED VALUES encourage shape differentiation
How to discriminate between FOUNDATIONAL & SUBORDINATE shapes
How DETAIL & SIMPLICITY work together with the 80/20 rule
SHAPE combining & the hierarchy of shapes
Audience: Fine Art Painters
Mediums: Any Medium
Stage: Aspiring, Emerging
Start Date: Friday, January 17, 2025
Start Time: 11am MDT
Sessions (5 total):
- 135 min Sessions:
Jan 17, Jan 31, Feb 14, Feb 28 - 75 min Session on Mar 14
$462.00
Out of stock
Price in USD
ONLY 11 SPOTS AVAILABLE!
Course Description
Painting or drawing a shape is not that difficult, but seeing that shape through layers of color, detail and complexity requires a practiced shift in perception.
In this class, you will discover how shape is the animating spirit of a painting.
Working from your own photos and/or those supplied by the instructor, you will do several exercises and paintings, designed to encourage your eye and hand toward the simplified shape interpretation that is the backbone of the landscape painting experience.
Supply List
With a few exceptions, you should have most of these supplies already.
You may work in:
- Oil
- Acrylic
- Watercolor
- Gouache
- Pastel
Pastel, watercolor, and acrylic painters, see note at end of this list.
If there are special supplies you need to work in your particular medium, that are not mentioned here, please have those on hand.
Note: For a few black-and-white exercises, I recommend acrylic. If you are unable to obtain acrylic, or absolutely hate working with them, you can forgo them and do the black-and-white exercises in pencil, charcoal or the media of your choice.
Black and white acrylic paint – 1 small tube of black and 1 small tube of white. Inexpensive student-grade “Amsterdam” acrylic paint is fine. Do not get “open” slow-drying acrylics or liquid acrylics, just “regular.”
Plus, a paper palette, at least one soft synthetic brush suitable for acrylics (#6 or #8 flat or filbert).
PHOTOGRAPHS
We will be working from photographs in this workshop. I have a large collection of landscape photos, but you are encouraged to use your own. For tips on selecting photos, please read this guide at my website.
https://mitchalbala.com/landscape-painters-guide-selecting-reference-photos/
TIP: In some of the exercises, we will be tracing over the photo. For this reason, photos that are printed our smaller than standard 8” x 10” are better — 5” x 7“-ish or so is preferred.
BRUSHES
Use the brushes you are accustomed to using for your medium.
COLORS
Most of our exercises will be done in line and/or black-and-white. For any color painting, use the set of colors you are accustomed to working with. If you would like some direction on a good landscape painting palette, see this article at my website.
https://blog.mitchalbala.com/split-primaries-landscape-painting-palette
For pastel artists: Please have a set of pure grays, from white to black. To ensure that you have enough “colors,” please employ a set that offers a good range of values, and in particular, adequate neutral colors.
Instructor Bio
Mitchell Albala is a highly respected painter, workshop instructor, and author. His semi-abstract and atmospheric landscapes have been exhibited nationally and are represented in corporate and private collections.
He is the author of two best-selling books on landscape painting: “Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice” (Watson-Guptill, 2009), with over 60,000 copies in print; and “The Landscape Painter’s Workbook: Essential Studies in Shape, Composition, and Color” (Rockport Publishers, 2022), which is currently the #1 selling book on landscape in the nation. Mitchell has led plein air workshops in Italy and teaches workshops throughout the Pacific Northwest. He has lectured on Impressionism and landscape painting at the Seattle Art Museum and has written for International Artist and Artists & Illustrators magazines.
Mitchell also hosts a popular painting blog, which is among feedspot.com‘s “Top 100 Painting Blogs for Artists.” See more of his artwork at his website: mitchalbala.com
🎥 COURSE RECORDINGS available for 1-MONTH after the course ends!
High School, University, and College students get 20% OFF. See FAQs at the bottom of page.
