New Landscape Workshops

Let's take advantage of this amazing fall weather!  Emilie Lee and Anthony Baus are teaching three different workshops that will get you outside and painting.

Tuesdays, 1-5 PM with Emilie Lee: Plein Air to Studio Process

starting in October

Sunset from Red Hook, oil on board, by Emilie Lee

A successful landscape painting relies on the mastery of nature's vocabulary and this fluency is best achieved through direct observation from life. However, working only from life can be limiting due to the interference of weather, fleeting light effects, and the constraints of time. This class will introduce a technique that will strengthen your ability to work from memory, liberate your imagination, and instill effective observation habits. No photography! 

We will spend the first half of each class session making plein air studies and taking notes on location in the outdoors. With our memories fresh, we will go immediately back to the studio and learn how to use our outdoor studies and our creative vision to create finished paintings that are inspired by nature. We will also study examples of how this method has been employed by artists from the past and present. We will be working on the waterfront of the East River in Long Island City, just three blocks away from the new GCA studios.

Halloween Workshops with Emilie Lee and Anthony Baus 

Oct. 10-12 Green-Wood Cemetery (Fri-Sun) , Oct 17-19 Woodlawn Cemetery (Fri-Sun)

Maine Monument by Anthony Baus, ink wash on paper

 Relieve yourself from the darkness of the classroom! In the spirit of Halloween, Emilie Lee and Anthony Baus will be using the backdrop of Green-Wood and Woodlawn cemeteries for the setting of two 3-day landscape workshops. Explore the decorative gravestones, richly ornate mausoleums, and guardian angels that haunt these New York City landmarks. Perhaps we will even commune with the spirits of the deceased!
In plien air fashion artists will be encouraged to complete 2-3 oil paintings and/or ink drawings at each location. Anthony's

Pelion Summer, by Emilie Lee, oil on panel

instruction will focus on the shortcuts of perspective to accurately depict built structures and properly scale objects from foreground to background. Emilie will introduce an efficient approach to plein air painting, addressing concerns of time management, shifting light conditions, atmospheric perspective, and color in nature.
Good drawing is the foundation of every great painting, and in this workshop, we will spend the first day focused only on drawing, establishing accurate perspective and strong composition. On the second and third days, we will show you how to use your initial drawing as a foundation for your final painting.
Individual critiques will be tailored to suit your personal goals for each weekend. The benefit of two instructors is a rare and special opportunity not to be missed!

NYC Perspective Drawing: Ink Wash w/ Anthony Baus

Ongoing, Sundays 10am-4pm

$40, priced per session

Drop-ins welcome. 

Grant's Tomb, by Anthony Baus, ink wash on paper

This workshop has been meeting every Sunday all summer and become a popular weekend ritual, we are looking forward to sketching in the crisp fall weather and enjoying the fall foliage! Drawing New York City's turn of the century architecture and sculpture has been an enriching experience reminding us of our city's history and forgotten treasures. We will take advantage of the weather and continue this class through the end of October. Shortcuts of perspective will be discussed as well as ink wash techniques inspired by Guardi, Paranesi and Canaletto. 

9/21 - Riverside Park: Soldier's and Sailor's Monument

9/28 - Central Park

10/5 - Bryant Park: NYPL

10/12 - no session

10/19 - no session

10/26 - Roosevelt Island: Ruins

Workshop Report: Foreground Studies with Emilie Lee

A few days ago we wrapped up a five day landscape painting workshop that I taught at Inwood Hill Park. We had perfect weather and the surprisingly wild nature of Inwood provided a serene retreat from city life. The park is 196 acres of varied terrain including Manhattan Island’s last untouched forest. Inwood’s northern border is the shoreline of Spuyten Duyvil Creek and on the west a steep forested ridge blocks noise from the west side highway. On top of the ridge, one can enjoy spectacular views up and down the Hudson River and of the Palisades on the opposite shore. In the forest, cliffs and large boulders form caves once inhabited by Native Americans. In this beautiful spot we were able to find a wide variety of subject matter. 

In this workshop I wanted to share some of the things I've learned as a student at the GCA and how that has applied to landscape painting in the context of the Hudson River Fellowship experience.  With this in mind, I planned the majority of our time to focus on drawing and foreground studies.  According to Asher B. Durand in his 1855 Letters on Landscape Painting, this is the best place to start when you are first beginning to work outside: 

“Form is the first subject to engage your attention. Take pencil and paper, not the palette and brushes, and draw with scrupulous fidelity the outline or contour of such objects as you shall select…”

When we set ourselves up to paint a landscape, most of us are tempted to choose a wide scene that includes a huge variety of challenges.  We are forced to abbreviate everything if we want to finish the painting in a day’s work.  While this approach is also valuable in certain circumstances, the importance of solid drawing cannot be expressed enough.  The practice of slowing down and choosing smaller, less complex subjects is a great way to gain a deeper understanding of nature and sharpen your observational skills.

As you can see from the photos, Inwwod Park is a wonderful location for a landscape painting workshop and we are excited to plan some more for next year!  Our last workshop, taught by Thomas Kegler was also a huge success and you can read more about that in these two blog posts, where you'll also find my rave reviews of the Indian Road Cafe - a conveniently located source of food, coffee, and cookies.

NHPR story on White Mountain Paintings

 Last night New Hampshire Public Radio aired a story about the"West of Washington" exhibit.  You can listed to the story online.  I'm really happy that they gave me an opportunity to talk about my experiences discovering landscape painting through the GCA and the Hudson River Fellowship.  I copied the text from my portion of the interview below.  Here are some photos taken by Sean Hurley, the reporter who wrote this story.

photo: Sean Hurley/NHPR

Photo: Sean Hurley/NHPR

 
 Excerpt from Sean Hurley's radio story:

Emilie Lee, a 1999 graduate of Holderness School, who assisted with the exhibition opening, is just such an artist:
Emilie: What most people don’t realize is that the education that these artists had is no longer taught in art schools today.  So I’ve had to search long and hard to find teachers who could teach me the kind of skills that I could paint like this.
Learning the traditional methods and painting in a bygone style might seem like a form of nostalgia, but really it’s just a way forward for artists like Emilie:
Emilie:  I was searching for a way to really give the viewer the experience of being in the place.  I can’t think of anything more powerful to make art about.
It’s this desire to convey the living landscape that connects Emilie to 19th Century artists like John Kensett and Benjamin Champney.
Emilie:  You know, sitting still for 4 or 5 hours in one spot studying a tree…is…I never thought it could be such an exciting experience.  And when I’m sitting there, I realize how alive the forest is around me and I think that one little painting that takes 4 or 5 hours of complete focus is filled with life because you’re sitting there experiencing the living forest around you.
And that’s what’s on display on the walls of the Edwards Art Gallery.  The living forests and mountains and lakes and rivers and fields of New Hampshire.  Our own backyard from 150 years ago, still alive today.

workshop report: Landscape Painting with Thomas Kegler

 Thomas Kegler's landscape painting workshop last week was a huge success!  We spent four days up at Inwood Hill Park, which proved to be an ideal location for our purposes.  This was the first time the GCA has held a workshop in the city, so we were thrilled with how smoothly it went.  Inwood Hill Park is 196 acres of mostly forest and a real treasure to have in New York City.  Easily accessible by the 1 and A trains, the park is home to the last untouched forest and salt marshes on Manhattan Island.  We found the park to be quiet and friendly, and we even felt comfortable leaving our easels and other equipment set up while taking turns to run into the nearby Indian Road Cafe to get warm and eat meals.  While the scenery at Inwood is perfectly inspiring, the food and hospitality at Indian Road is equally worthy of praise here.  Sourcing all their ingredients from local farms just up the Hudson, Indian Road starts serving breakfast at 7 AM.  In addition to a full menu of healthy hearty meals, they offer irresistible baked goods, superb coffee, an excellent beer list, and live music at night!  The prices are reasonable, and there is plenty of room for a large group to eat together.  With the cold weather conditions, it was just the respite we needed to keep our energy levels high for full days of painting.
         I'm looking forward to my workshop in the end of May, and after this experience, I feel quite confident that we will have an excellent time!  With the warmer weather, I plan to stay for dinner at the cafe a few of those nights and hold some optional sunset painting sessions afterwards.  With the view west across the Hudson, it's a perfect spot!

This map shows the varied topography of the park

The park is easily accessible by the A and 1 trains

the view from the water looking west under the Henry Hudson Bridge.  From on top of the hill, one can see more of the Hudson River behind the strip of trees in this photo.

the salt marsh provided some interesting foreground material

this forest interior would be another great spot to paint!

Thomas Kegler started each morning with a demo (after a delicious breakfast at Indian Road Cafe!)

following his demo, Tom worked with students on an individual basis throughout the rest of the day.

  

at the end of the day we would regroup to talk about the day's work and what to expect for tomorrow.

On Friday night, some of us had a very insightful trip to the New American Wing at the Met where we were inspired by the masters!  It was great to hear what Tom had to say about these paintings.

Future landscape painting workshops with the GCA: 

Foreground Studies with Emilie Lee May 30 - June 3 at Inwood Hill Park

Painting in the Tradition of the Hudson River School with Erik Koeppel and Lauren Sansaricq July 16-26, Jackson, NH

Traditional Landscape Painting with Thomas Kegler July 31 - August 3 in Jackson, NH

Upcoming NYC Park Landscape Workshops!

For you city-folk interested in learning the pre-impressionist methods and ideas explored by the Hudson River Fellowship, GCA has scheduled two local workshops in late spring and early-summer. The workshops will be held in NYC's rugged Inwood Park at the northern tip of Manhattan. Instructors are Senior Fellows of the Hudson River Fellowship.

Traditional Landscape, April 11 - 14, taught by Thomas Kegler

Foreground Studies, May 30 - June 3, taught by Emilie Lee

For workshop details, click here!

To Register now, email Joy at gcaclasses@gmail.com

NYC's Inwood Park

 

Scroll down to see images of work by instructors!

Autumn Afternoon by Tom Kegler

Summer 2011 Kegler Workshop in the Catskills.

Tom Kegler at work

Kegler tools

Buttercups & Raspberries by Tom Kegler

North Lake by Tom Kegler

By Emilie Lee

By Emilie Lee

Watch out students, Emilie works rain or shine!

By Emilie Lee

Rock, Lichen Study by Emilie Lee

Forest Path Study By Emilie Lee

HRF 2010 (left to right) Travis Schlaht, Ted Minoff, Emilie Lee

Salmagundi Club Opening Reception Tonight

"Laurelside Afternoon" 10"x8" oil on canvas, by Emilie Lee 2011

I hope you don't mind this shameless self-promotion, but I wanted to share that I have five paintings in a show that opens tonight at the Salmagundi Club.  These plein air paintings were all done on last summer's Hudson River Fellowship. You can see all five on my personal blog here.

The opening reception is from 6-8 PM
The show runs until January 20th
The Salmagundi Club gallery is open to the public and it is located at 47 5th Ave, New York, NY.  Regular Hours are Monday - Friday 1-6 PM and 1-5 PM on weekends.

GCA shout out in the Wall Street Journal Today!

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article about the open studio I participated in on Saturday! You can read the entire article online, but here are the bits that give a mention to GCA and what we are doing here:

"Ms. Lee, after living the itinerant life of a rock climber and a model for outdoor-gear companies since she graduated from college ... recently moved to Brooklyn and is studying painting at the Grand Central Academy of Art. I can report without exaggeration, based on a recent visit, that she's a landscape painter of great promise....

Ms. Lee's figure studies are as elegant and feel as confident as an Ingres. I also loved a small Vermont landscape that reminded me of college. She said she's baffled by much of contemporary art: "It's all about shock. You get to the point where people aren't shocked anymore.

"A lot of contemporary art seems to be about the inner struggle of the artist," she said. "It's not about the execution. The way I approach art it's not about me at all. It's just trying to be faithful to nature." .....

While I was there, a gentleman who had found Ms. Lee on Facebook and collects the art of her teachers dropped by and purchased one of her figure drawings (she would go on to sell four more works Saturday). Afterwards, he told her she was underpriced, and reminded her to buy those red dots artists place beside sold paintings.

"Yes!" she shouted as soon as he was out the door but still well within earshot." -- Ralph Gardner, Wall Street Journal, 5/9/11

Emilie Lee open studio tomorrow

Tomorrow (Saturday May 7th) I will be participating in an open studio event in Union Square, NYC. There will be more than 50 artist's studios to visit at this event! I will be in 41 Union Square West, Studio 410 from 12-5 PM showing my studies from the last 3 years at GCA and the Hudson River Fellowship. Stop by and say hi if you're in the area!

by Emilie Lee 10"x12" oil on linen, 2011

Student Work March 2011

by Carla Crawford

by Lauren Sansaricq

by Carla Crawford

by Emilie Lee

by Pierre Bombardier

by Carla Crawford

Some Student work from October

by Challen Berg


by Lindsay Foster


by Katie Whipple


by David Troncoso


by David Troncoso


by Sam Worley




by Elisabeth Ehmann


by Rebecca Gray


by Emilie Lee


by Lauren Sansaricq