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.

In the Studio with Edward Minoff

   GCA students and alumni visiting Edward Minoff's studio in late September 2011

Edward Minoff talking about a painting in progress.  You can see the small plein air study he is using for the studio painting on the easel behind his shoulder

Edward (aka Ted) Minoff's studio is crammed with beautiful landscapes, portraits, figure, and still life studies.

Here he is showing us a small plein air sunset sketch he did on a trip to Italy.  In this photo you can see the larger canvas with a loose sketch of the scene he plans to paint using the plein air sketch for color reference. 

an important part of Ted's working process are the written notes and sketches he does on the beach while observing waves.  You can read more about this in detail on his website

Edward Minoff's painting in progress as of October 27, 2011

The most important part of the process - being inspired by nature and getting the information down in a study painted from life! 

GCA takes a field trip to CT

Today the entire GCA core program took the day off from our normal schedule to go landscape painting in western Connecticut.  We had perfect weather and we were joined by several alumni and faculty, it was a great way to catch up and paint together.  We don't have photos of any paintings yet, but we will try to post some as soon as they become available.  For now, here are a few pics of the day:

The Grand Central Academy of Art!  

Abigail Tulis

Gregory Mortenson

Andrea Clinton

Katie Whipple

Brendan Johnston, with Edward Minoff, Connor DeJong, and Katie Whipple in the background

Rodrigo Mateo

Liz Beard with Jacob Collins

Lauren Sansaricq and Jacob Collins

Rebecca C. Gray

Sarah Bird

Emilie Lee

Joshua LaRock and Brandon Beckstrom

lost in the woods, 2011