Garden Inspired Painting Workshop

Arts Escape in Southbury presents a 3-hour workshop, where students will use oil paint or acrylics to explore painting styles and study contemporary artists. Investigate ways of seeing nature and render works inspired by floral arrangements plucked from instructor Roberta Shea’s own garden. This is not a realism class, but a way to capture the flutter of a petal, the arch of a stem, and colors of the sky in line and in gestural paint.

Shea will teach the basics, but let painters pursue their own paths. Students should bring their own paints, brushes, and canvases to create abstract backgrounds with a simple palette of three colors in opaque medium, focusing on light to illuminate the surface. The aim is to let the soul of the painter come through the painterly brushstroke, use of color, and form of the arrangement.