Pre-Event Plein Air Art Workshops

Youth Landscape Painting Workshop

All art materials will be provided, The supplies are funded by a grant from the Marion Park Lewis Foundation. The Youth Landscape Painting Workshop is also supported by a grant from the Ellison Family.

Saturday, September 14, 2024 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

For ages Grade 5-7

Cost of Class $15.00 per student, 15 student limit

Led by NOVA Plein Air Artists Marilyn Miyamoto and Rachel Garcia, students will be introduced to gouache, a water based medium often favored by plein air artists for its bright, opaque finish, and quick drying properties. Students will be guided through the basics of landscape composition through various techniques such as layering, blending, and overlapping.

After a short teacher demonstration, students will start on smaller practice pieces before tackling a larger landscape painting. With cooperative weather, students to experience plein air painting firsthand. The students will receive individual feedback where they can express their creativity and develop their skills. The class will culminate in a mini-exhibition the following Saturday, September 21 during Plein Air in the Arboretum festival, where students will showcase their finished landscape paintings, celebrating their progress and achievements.

Students may bring a water bottle, if desired.

About the Artists: Marilyn Miyamoto is a co-founding member of Nova Plein Air Artists. Her work features landscapes, still life, and portraits. She received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, and continued her graduate studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and California State University at Long Beach. Later in her career, she transitioned to oil painting. She was an art teacher for Fairfax County Schools and was the recipient of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Power of Art Award.

Rachel Garcia-Palmer is a contemporary fine artist and muralist from Reston, Virginia. Her art journey began as a young child and has continued into her professional life. For almost four decades, she has been creating art and working in the art/design field. Rachel’s work focuses on realism primarily in oil and charcoal. She is one of the cofounders of NOVA Plein Air Artists and a resident artist at Gateway Gallery and Gifts in Round Hill, VA, as well as an exhibiting artist at The Art League in Alexandria.

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Inspiration to Completion – Full Day Plein Air Workshop

Monday, September 16, 2024 10:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Cost of Class $120.00, 15 student maximum

Lynn Metha, an award winning artist, will lead students on how to create impressionist plein air paintings filled with color, light, and expression. Lynn will share her approaches to establish a successful composition, mix harmonious color notes, and to loosen up brushwork and palette knife work. Demonstration and instruction will be in oil.

Morning - Demonstration and discussion. Students create quick compositions for success and then color note sketches to loosen up.

Afternoon - Brief discussion. Students begin with a composition study, color mixing, and then continue to paint a plein air painting. Lynn will give individualized attention to students as they paint.

About the artist: Lynn Mehta is known for her vivid, textured oil paintings characterized by interpretive impressionism, Lynn Mehta is an award-winning artist living in Virginia. Her art is a reflection of her connection to the ever-changing visual world around, blending abstract shapes and forms inspired by a wide range of landscapes and elements. Mehta holds Signature Membership Status in the American Impressionist Society, the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association, and the American Society of Marine Artists. Her broad membership includes the Salmagundi Club in New York City, the Washington Society of Landscape Painters, and Oil Painters of America.Her artwork graces galleries, private and public collections, books, and magazines worldwide. Museum and public collectors include the Maryhill Museum of Art in Washington, the National Institutes of Health, and Acadia National Park Artists-in-Residency.

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Plein Air: From Start to Finish - Two Day Plein Air Workshop

(for experienced beginners and advanced artists)

Monday and Tuesday September 16 and 17, 2024 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.

Cost $350 for two-day workshop, Maximum 12 students

Award-winning watercolorist Catherine Hillis, will led artists through the all the steps successful plein air painting in watercolors. Students will explore the best equipment to use for our medium and learn about the many substrates available to the contemporary watercolor painter. Learn how to frame and present completed works for an event that does not require mat or glass. With cooperative weahter, students will spend time in the field each day. Bring a sketchbook and learn some tricks for developing quick compositions. Your instructor will present many live demonstrations as well as individual coaching during the workshop. Be ready to work both in the studio and outdoors. Personal painting supplies required. List below.

About the Artist: Catherine Hillis hails from Lake of the Woods, Virginia, an area surrounded by the historic Civil War Chancellorsville and Wilderness Battlefields. She competes in national watermedia competitions and plein air events and has earned hundreds of awards and nine Signature Memberships in national organizations. A regular contributor to American Watercolor Weekly Newsletter, the artist has been featured in many publications, including Watercolor Magazine, the SPLASH books, PleinAir , the Washington Post and Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine. In the past, she’s served as Artist in Residence in Dinan, FR; at Hot Springs National Park, AR and she’ll be in residence at Chateau d’ Orquevaux in France during the month of November,2024. Her work can be seen at Anderson Fine Art Gallery on St. Simons Island, GA, at Sophia Street Studios in Fredericksburg, VA and in museums, corporations and the homes and offices of private collectors. Hillis is an energetic instructor, presenting multiple demonstrations and personalized individual coaching during each class or workshop. “I believe in giving back to the community by teaching classes and workshops across the country. It’s my desire to provide students with skills for a lifetime.

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Catherine Hillis Class Supply List Suggestions:

Paper: A small Arches 140lb cold pressed watercolor block.12 x 16 or smaller is fine.
Board: Gator board/corrugated plastic board or similar and masking tape.
Sketch Book: Any size or 8 x 10 or smaller
Accessories: Portable chair, sunblock, bug repellant, water container and water, paper towels, pencil, kneaded eraser, a spray bottle for water, and sketchbook. Bring a phone or iPad for taking pictures. Snacks, lunch, hat, trash bag, water to drink.
Umbrella: I use the EASEYL umbrella from http://artworkessentials.com/products/UMK-45/UMK45.htm
Easel: Your choice. I use the En Plein Air easel because it’s light yet durable from https://enpleinairpro.com/. You can also sit in a chair and paint on your lap.
Palette: Your choice: make it light and portable. Most people like a pan palette. I use the Quiller Palette or similar.
Brushes: Your choice. I use a medium round mop, a small round for details, a rigger, and a flat. Here are some reasonable brands: Raphael Soft Aquas, Princeton watercolor brushes, Cheap Joe’s Dream Catcher line and Golden Fleece line and Stephen Quiller’s brushes.
Paint: Use only professional grade paints. It makes a huge difference. I use Daniel Smith paints, but there are many professional brands that don’t contain fillers such as Winsor-Newton, Mijello and Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Dick Blick, American Journey.
On my palette today are: Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Quinacridone Rose, Red Hot Mama (a medium red), Quinacridone Gold, Bumblebee Yellow (any warm yellow), Raw Sienna and Lemon Yellow. I also like to use Burnt Sienna, other browns, lavender and Neutral Tint.