Painting the Landscapes of Minnesota in Watercolor – Oct. 13-14, 2023 – New Brighton, MN

Learn to see and paint the landscapes of Minnesota in this two-day watercolor workshop with Paul Oman, a signature member of the National Watercolor Society and a live audience large-scale performance painter. Paul’s first love in painting are landscapes, especially the landscapes of the Upper Midwest with their many moods and possibilities. Painting landscapes can be challenging in that they can feel empty, lacking interest, or lacking a strong focal point. What looked good in a photo is often lacking in a painting. How do we deal with this? We will explore this challenge through demonstrations and practice. I will show you ways to overcome these issues. 

You will learn approaches to:

• Understanding edges
• Simplifying shapes
• Seeing relationships of lines and shapes 
• Designing and rearranging your reference to command viewer interest
• Creating drama
• Amplifying mood 
• Understanding values and their application
• Manipulating value patterns beyond what you see/your reference material shows
• Painting light and shadow
• Using color for emotional expression
• Gaining confidence to rapidly expand your ability within your own style
• And more…

Paul’s easy way of presentation and demonstrating will allow you to both further explore your current level of familiarity in painting, and take next steps to challenge and grow your vision to see new possibilities.

Why I paint? I paint because I absolutely love to paint. I have been painting since I was 10 years of age and have not been able to stop. It is simply fun, and I thoroughly enjoy sharing this joy with anyone who is interested in painting. The more I paint, the more I understand my approach to painting at two levels: 1) I am primarily painting light and shadow, rather than things, and 2) painting is literally another language through which we speak where words cannot go.

Bring many reference photos of your own to the workshop. Take photos on your phone or iPad of landscapes that grab your interest for any reason.

Register here:  https://northstarwatermedia.wufoo.com/forms/m15daovg0x0tcrw/