Spring and Summer Class Schedule

Today I spent some time putting together my class schedule for the rest of the Spring and the Summer.  I'll be teaching art classes for beginners and intermediates and offering a class by a wonderful teacher, Thomas Bosket, for advanced students.  In addition, I have two classes coming up which are about body image - Body Shop and Naked Self Portraiture.  The details are below.  Both are very gentle classes which give participants to look at their feelings about their bodies using different modalities in a safe, supportive environment.

All information is next to the class title.  This information is also on my website, www.susansinger.com.  Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about the classes.  I'd be delighted to have you join me for any of these pursuits!

To see a calendar listing all classes, please see Calendar of Classes page.

Putting Together a Face, One Piece at a Time

In this six week class, the student will learn the basic anatomy of a face and have the opportunity to practice drawing each element of the face in detail in pencil.  The last two weeks will be spent drawing a self portrait using the knowledge gained from the first four weeks.  No previous drawing experience necessary.

Friday mornings

May 6 - June 17 (no class May 27), 10 AM -12:30 PM, $180

held at my studio in Southside Richmond

Contact me to sign up and for more information.

SusanSingerArt@msn.com

Body Shop: An Exploration of the Body through Image and Word 

Susan Singer is a full time artist, writer, speaker and teacher who is dedicated to helping people feel compassion towards themselves and their bodies.  Through the processes of drawing, writing and sharing, participants will explore the impact that our body image has on our inner and outer lives.  In this intensive three hour workshop designed for women, participants will gently but honestly uncover how we really feel about the woman beneath our clothes. 

Saturday, May 7, 10 AM - 1 PM

Cost: $40 Members; $50 Non-members of Chrysalis
         * Register by April 22 to receive a $5 early registration discount 
Location: The Chrysalis Gathering Space (3527 Ellwood Ave.)  

Naked Self Portraiture:  Drawing Inward to Draw Outward.

Part exploration of the soul, part exploration of the body, this class will give you time and permission to see yourself as you truly are with loving eyes.  We’ll draw and paint and sculpt with simple materials like Playdoh and finger paint, easy for the inexperienced artist and interesting enough for even the professional artist.  We’ll go inward through Authentic Movement and guided meditation to find the essence of who we are on the inside. Come prepared to disrobe, to explore, to laugh, and to discover richly, deeply your own gorgeous self, inside and out.
(This illustration is not an example of the work we'll be doing in the class.  Our explorations will be much more basic and intended for beginners as well as women with some artistic background.)

Saturday, May 14, 10 - 4 AND

Sunday, May 15, 11-5

$150

Students: $125

At Illumination Dance Studio, Richmond, VA

Contact me to sign up and for more information.  SusanSingerArt@msn.com

Beginning Pastel Drawing at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond

Are you ready to try a new medium? How about one that is direct, forgiving, simple and luscious? Come learn all about color, composition, value, line, and marks, not to mention pastels and pastel papers! This class is ideal for beginners to art, as well as experienced artists wanting to learn a new material.  It is taught with an analytical approach which will allow even the utter newbie to create better art than he ever thought possible!  Materials will be provided for the first night of class and a list will be given out then for the other class meetings.

Tuesday night

June 7 – July 26, 6:30 – 9:00 PM, 8 weeks, $190

Contact the Visual Arts Center to sign up

Intermediate Pastel Drawing at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond

If you've already begun exploring the fabulous, rich, exciting medium of soft pastels, this class is perfect for you! Take time to indulge yourself each week in an exploration of yourself as an artist under the supportive and encouraging tutelage of the instructor. Bring your own project and draw to your heart's content! 

Thursday night

Session I - June 9 - July 14, 6:30 - 9:00, 6 weeks, $155

Session II - July 28 - August 25, 6:00 - 9:00, 5 weeks, $155

Contact the Visual Arts Center to sign up.

Honing Your Vision with instructor Thomas Bosket

If you are at the intermediate skill level or beyond, this could be a fabulous class for you!  In this six day class, Thomas Bosket, visiting professor from Parsons School of Design in NYC, will lead us on a journey together through some tough stuff and some very stunning parts of what it means to be human - a journey that exposes our deepest longings and desires - one that will be tough at times and thrilling at others.  We will be taken out of our brains into our bodies.  We will be exposed to raw energies and experiences that may be uncomfortable but definitively alive. 

In his almost twenty years of teaching art, Thomas has developed many exercises to help students break through their self-imposed limits on their artistic abilities. This class is for students who want to explore the interior aspects of creating art, those which transcend the skill-based aspects.

Sunday - Saturday, June 19 - 25, 2011           Sunday, June 19, from 2-6 with dinner afterwards
           Monday - Friday, June 20 - 24, from 10-4 daily
           Saturday, June 25, from 10-2
Where:  Crossroads Art Center at Staples Mill and Broad, Richmond, VA
Cost:  $600 for all instruction and dinner on the 19th
How to sign up:  send me an email at SusanSingerArt@msn.com, then send me a $300 deposit to reserve your place.  The remainder will be due by June 1.

Basic Drawing Skills

Have you always wanted to learn to draw but never thought you could?  Are you one of those people who says, "I can't even draw a straight line?"  In this class you won't need to, and you will learn to draw beautifully!  You will learn the basic tools of drawing as well as how to see in a way which is fundamental to learning to depict the world accurately.

Come find out just how terrific an artist you can become!  Beginners eagerly welcomed!  More advanced artists welcomed as well!

Friday mornings

July 8 - August 12, 10 AM - 12:30 PM, $180

held at my studio in Southside Richmond

Contact me to sign up and for more information.

SusanSingerArt@msn.com

Doodling Defined: Zentangles

All Levels

We all do it – whenever the meeting gets boring, or the teacher drones on too long, we take out our pens and start doodling.  This fun class will formalize your doodling just enough to make you want to do it all the time – not just when you’re on interminable hold with the telephone company.  You’ll learn new patterns and ways to put them together, and maybe you’ll even invent some to share with the class. This is a fun and interactive class for all ages. Class is appropriate for ages 10 and up. Children under the age of 15 must be accompanied by an adult.

On session only

Sunday, August 7, 1:00 – 4:00 PM, $55

More Details

Contact the Visual Arts Center to register

Individual instruction

anytime mutually agreed upon

If you prefer working one-on-one, Susan offers outstanding instruction in many media including pastels, drawing, oil painting and watercolor as well as art appreciation.  Email her to set up an appointment today!  SusanSingerArt@msn.com

at her home studio in Richmond, near Stony Point

Testimonials from Susan Singer's students:Susan's a great teacher, very encouraging, knowledgeable, organized and can tailor a student's needs to his/her progress

Susan presented very concrete, well-planned lessons which included thorough explanations and examples of materials (papers, types of pastels), techniques and approaches to the medium.  She was encouraging and positive in her instruction, always able to find good qualities in each person's work.

This was by far the most comprehensive coverage of pastel painting I've ever had.  I don't see how the class could have been better!

I feel like I'm improving not only my skills, but also my ability to see what I need to do to improve my painting.  It really helps for Susan to point out what is "off" or what needs to be approached next.

Susan's critiques (each class) helped us to progress more rapidly.  She is very encouraging, yet challenging.  I also learned a lot about color theory and application, which have made me much better able to work in pastels.

Hope to see you soon!

Susan Singer

SusanSingerArt@msn.com

 

The studio!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
May				6 Putting Together a Face 10-12:30	7  Body Shop 10-1	8
9	10	11	12	13  Putting Together a Face 10-12:30	14  Naked Self Portraiture 10-4	15 Naked Self Portraiture 11-5
16	17	18	19	20  Putting Together a Face 10-12:30	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31	June 1	2	3  Putting Together a Face 10-12:30	4	5
6	7  Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	8	9  Intermediate Pastels Session I 6:30 - 9	10 Putting Together a Face 10-12:30	11	12
13	14 Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	15	16 Intermediate Pastels 6:30 - 9	17 Putting Together a Face 10-12:30	18	19 Honing Your Vision with Thomas Bosket 2-6, dinner
20 Honing Your Vision 10-4	21 Honing Your Vision 10-4  Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	22 Honing Your Vision 10-4	23 Honing Your Vision 10-4  Intermediate Pastels 6:30 - 9	24 Honing Your Vision 10-4	25 Honing Your Vision 10-2	26
27	28 Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	29	30 Intermediate Pastels 6:30 - 9	July 1	2	3
4	5 Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	6	7 Intermediate Pastels 6:30 - 9	8 Basic Drawing 10-12:30	9	10
11	12 Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	13	14 Intermediate Pastels 6:30 - 9	15 Basic Drawing 10-12:30	16	17
18	19 Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	20	21	22 Basic Drawing 10-12:30	23	24
25	26 Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	27	28   Intermediate Pastels Session II 6 - 9	29 Basic Drawing 10-12:30	30	31
August 1	2	3	4 Intermediate Pastels 6 - 9	5 Basic Drawing 10-12:30	6	7 Zendoodles 1-4
8	9	10	11 Intermediate Pastels 6-9	12 Basic Drawing 10-12:30	13	14
15	16	17	18 Intermediate Pastels 6 - 9	19	20	21
22	23	24	25 Intermediate Pastels 6 - 9	26	27	28
29	30	31	September 1	2	3	4

This and That

The last couple of days I've had the opportunity to do some demos in two art classes I'm teaching.  In the morning class, my student asked if I would teach her how to draw a beach scene which looks kind of like an abstract color study.  She wanted to learn about layering color and making the scene look realistic.  I found an appropriate picture on my computer then started to show her how I do it.  She drew along while I drew.  It's a little bit hard to tell from this photograph, but there are crazy colors underneath the blue - my student was taken aback when I put vermillion red down, but she said she decided to be a good student and do it despite her misgivings!  The effect it has is to make the colors more interesting and complex.  There's dark green and blue and red and some orange under there.  In the sky, there's red and pink and mint green under the pale blue.  I didn't blend any colors, rather I just applied the marks overtop of the other colors.  When I use very good pastels (i.e. ones with lots of pigment) on sanded paper, it's very easy to cover whatever is on the paper already.  The earlier layers will show through a bit, creating a more interesting final picture.

After we were done with the sea scene, I used the same colors and did a quick color study.  I often like to do that to get away from the tidiness and carefulness with which I created the scene from the photo.  I've become familiar with the colors and how they interact and just want to play with that at random.  This image will give you more information about the colors which are underneath the previous picture!

In my evening class yesterday, the students were learning about composition and value and color and creating form - there's a lot to keep in mind when drawing with pastels!  I had them draw a piece of fruit.  I insisted that it be a SIMPLE piece of fruit so they didn't have to struggle with complexities of shape along with everything else.  To the right is the demo I did to show them how to apply the strokes - in the direction an ant would walk if he were to traverse the curves, both from top to bottom and around the entire circumference.  To create a shadow, apply the primary color of the fruit (red, in this case), then put in its complementary color (green), then put the background color over it so the shadow appears to be on the surface.  It is a very good way to get a decent shadow that looks fairly realistic.  I wouldn't say that this shadow is one of my best, but it gives you an idea of how it can work.  I was very excited by the work the students did in both classes.  They ended up with some very nice pieces! 

Next week we'll do self-portraits!  A great challenge!

Painting with Pastel on Canvas

Ahhhhhhhhh!  Today I finally got back into drawing!  I taught a pastel class at the studio today, and, since I only have 2 students in the class, I gave myself permission to draw while they were working - it just isn't helpful, I don't believe, to stand over their shoulders the whole time they're working.  I didn't want to do something persnickety, so I decided to do a fairly simple figure study of the model I photographed most recently.  She was terrific to work with - open and comfortable in her body and terrific about sharing of herself.  I got some wonderful pictures of her but hadn't had a chance to work from them yet, so I could feel a little bit of excitement today as I glanced through the shots to figure out which to work from. 

I found one I liked then cropped it.  I had a 24" square canvas which I'd painted then painted over with glop from the bottom of my turpenoid jar so it was textured and slightly mauvey-pink.  Perfect!  I didn't want to feel pressure to do anything perfectly.  I decided to use pastels on the canvas - a very unusual thing to do, as far as I know, because pastels don't stick to canvas so well, but I decided I'd use fixative like crazy and see what happened.  I NEVER use fixative - just ask my students - it changes the texture and color of the pastels in ways I don't like - but I figured I'd try something new.  Why not?  I'm on vacation - I have all summer to experiment - I may as well try something new.  If it doesn't work, I can always paint over it again and do something new.

Fortunately for me, I like how it turned out.  (For all I can write what I wrote about "who cares?", I'm actually quite a perfectionist and get very disappointed if something doesn't turn out well!  But pretending I don't care gives me permission to do things I would otherwise be too anal to try.  It's a good way to trick myself.

I can see some things I need to work on- her finger is too light, for example, but mostly I'm very pleased with it.  I like the texture a lot - I think it fits her stance and her body shape well.

I haven't come up with a title yet.  I want to name it after the model, but usually refrain from doing that in case the model isn't too excited about that possibility!  Any suggestions?

Art Class starts tomorrow

I'll be teaching a studio art class in my studio on southside Richmond starting tomorrow evening at 6:30 and going until 9.  We'll meet 4 Tuesdays until the end of January.  Any medium is welcome, though I'm most skilled in teaching drawing, pastels, or oils.  Students will have an opportunity to work on their own projects with as much/little help/support/critique as you'd like. Please contact me if you're interested.  Limit 6 students, and I have 4 already.  $130 for the 4 weeks.

804-267-3455

Hope you can join us!