Class Description and Supply List: Color in the Summer Landscape

Class Description and Supply List: Color in the Summer Landscape

Class | Available

Intermediate
6/16/2025-6/18/2025
10:00 AM-4:00 PM EDT on Tue Wed
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$325.00
Member Discount Available

Class Description and Supply List: Color in the Summer Landscape

Class | Available

Mastering the use of color is one of the most important tools in creating successful; dynamic paintings. A greater understanding of color usage will lead you more quickly and efficiently to the solutions you want!

Join visiting artist, Nina Weiss as she leads you through the process of becoming more confident in the use of color through a mixture of class discussion, observation, exercises and direct application. 

You will learn:

- The science, history and psychology of color

- How to (fully) use the color wheel including color relationships and groupings

- All about value, contrast, temperature, harmony, and weight of color

-Layering techniques and methods to create depth and visual interest

-How to incorporate all that has been learned into your personal painting style 

Nina’s goal is for students to understand and utilize all aspects of color in their paintings for brighter, more creative color usage. 

The second and third day of this workshop will be devoted to creating small paintings inspired by the beautiful landscapes surrounding the Art Center. Weather permitting; we will begin our paintings outside. All opaque mediums welcome!

Hand-outs will be provided.

Supply List.

All levels welcome - recommend intermediate ability in drawing - ages 18 + (must have transportation to Arcadia for plein air portion)

  • Supply List (to be purchased prior to start of class):

  •  

    You will need to bring all your art supplies with you!

    REMEMBER:  these are SUGGESTED materials; please tailor to your needs.  Pick YOUR black & white medium and YOUR color medium!  

     

    • Travel easel for work in the field (If you are very sensitive to the sun; purchase a clip on umbrella that can attach to an easel.) 
    • Good drawing pencils of various grades (HB; #B- 6B), sharpener, erasers 
    • Paints (see exact list below)
    • A sketchbook of comfortable size to carry around for thumbnail sketches/composition
    • Lightweight, plastic palette with cover or similar for transport in the field 
    •  A camera/smartphone for recording the landscape
    • Something sturdy and comfortable to carry everything into the field (canvas bag, backpack) 
    • A plastic, fold up water cup for water-based painting; small jars and palette cups for oil mediums.  
    • Folding chair if you wish to sit while painting in the field

  •  

     


  • Suggested Supplies (choose one media - unless you want to try different medias on different days):

  • PAINTS:

    Note - Feel free to p     urchase fully pigmented paints from whatever brand you like best; BUT be aware that most brands offer "Student Grade" paints that will not have the coverage quality we’re looking for (Winton Oil Colors by Winsor Newton are an example of this.)   

  • Oil:

  • Cyan or Cerulean Blue        

    Ultramarine Blue                 

    Alizarin Crimson                 

    Cadmium Red                   

    Cadmium Lemon                

    Cadmium Yellow Med       

    Titanium White     

    Acrylic:

    Primary or Cerulean Blue Cyan Blue

    Ultramarine Blue                
    Ultramarine Blue

    Quinacridone

    Napthol Red/Primary Red

    Primary Yellow

    Cadmium Yellow Medium

    Titanium White

    Gouache:

    Cyan Blue

    Ultramarine Blue

    Alizarin Crimson

    Spectrum Red/Primary Red

    Primary Yellow/Lemon Yellow

    Cadmium Yellow Medium

    Titanium White

    Please note:  this is a limited palette of the WARM and COOL primaries.  From these, we can mix everything!

     

  • MEDIUMS:  
    Oil:                 

  • Turpentine substitute

    Liquin (a drying medium, or similar)


    Acrylic:
    Retarder (slows drying time) - OPTIONAL
    GAC 100 (extends or dilutes paint)- REQUIRED

    Please note:  if you are working in oil; you will need three containers: one for dirty turp; one for clean turp; and one for your medium.

  • PALETTE:

  • There are many options for palettes.  I like a glass or plexi palette backed with white foam core and edged with duct-tape.  Glass is probably not a good option to travel with; so other options are plastic palettes & various types of disposable palettes, but make sure you plan to have some kind of rigid backing.  Please try to find and use one that is white or has a white backing.  There are light-weight palette-shaped white composite ones that are easy to clean.  Choose a palette that allows for enough room to both lay-out & mix your colors.

  • BRUSHES:

  • An assortment of BRIGHTS and rounds, largest no more than an inch wide.  I prefer synthetic nylon brushes over traditional bristle brushes. Suggested brand is PRINCETON; they have different series from softest (Summit) to stiffer (Polytip).  Suggested sizes for BRIGHTS: 4, 6, 8, 10 ROUNDS 4,6,8

    GESSO is a good functional barrier between your supports and your paints.  

  • SUPPORTS:

      Please PRE-GESSO your supports while at home (one less thing to carry!):  canvas; masonite, canvas board.   I like to give prestretched/gessoed supports one-two additional coats.   I add an additional two-three more layers of gesso to eliminate the weave.  There are many very satisfying support options in addition to traditional canvasses.  You can purchase a sheet of MASONITE and have the hardware store cut it down for you in varying sizes.  Another great support to work on is gessoed 1/4” book-board, which can be cut to size after ascertaining your compositions’ correct proportions.  There are also pre-gessoed boards. My least favorite support is canvas board; it can warp and does not provide a satisfyingly sturdy support.


      If you are working in GOUACHE; a good watercolor paper or block will do; gouache is also great on the gessoed bookboard.  Some good sizes are:  18” X 24; 10” X 20” 12” X 18”.  

    • MISCELLANIOUS:

    • ·Airtight containers for your solvents (jars/cans)

      ·Smaller containers for your solvents; tins that attach to your palette are convenient

      ·Paper towels for brush wiping and clean up

    Weiss, Nina
    Nina Weiss

    ARTIST BIO:  

    Nina Weiss is a nationally renowned artist who has been painting and drawing the landscape for over 50 years. She holds a BFA from the Tyler School of Art and graduate study at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Further study includes at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Art Students’ League of New York. She taught for many years at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago. Nina currently teaches at the Evanston Art Center, the North Shore Art League, and the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Nina teaches workshops throughout the United States; and travels with students to teach her European Landscape Painting & Drawing Workshops.  Her instructional painting videos are available on the learning platform Craftsy and the Prismacolor website.

    Nina’s work is held in private and corporate collections throughout the United States including United Airlines, Aetna Insurance, McDonald's, Eli Lilly, Avon, and United States Customs. Artist’s residencies include the Ragdale Foundation, Artist in Residence at Acadia National Park, and the Vermont Studio Center. 

    Weiss has exhibited widely; including exhibitions at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Mary Bell Gallery, New York Art Expo, Great River Road Museum of Contemporary Art, Union League Club, J.Petter Gallery and more.

    Her paintings and drawings can be seen in two Hollywood films, John Hugh’s “Just Visiting” and Harold Ramis’s “Ice Harvest” and in the television series “Chicago Fire”.  Nina is currently represented by the J. Petter Gallery, Alma Art Gallery, H. Marion Art Consulting, and SaatchArt.com.

    Artist Statement:
    My oil on canvas landscapes delve into the layers; colors; and textures created by flowers, grasses, fields and waterways of our natural and preserved landscapes.  The paintings concentrate on an almost abstract physicality of painting:  line; gesture; color.  I hope to draw the viewer into a heightened vision of gesture and hue, depicting nature with colors that are intense, lush, and dramatic.  I strive to push the work beyond ideas of traditional landscape; teasing out the complex colors of nature, creating layers of contrast, line, and form.  I want my paintings to engage with an audience that wishes to experience the power, drama and joy of landscapes that go “beyond green”.

    I travel to immerse myself in landscapes both local and abroad.  I document and photograph my subject matter in the field, then return to the studio where I use cropped compositions as a basis for the paintings.  The paintings are developed with a colored ground and worked in layers from dark to light.