Drawing with Eileen M.

Hello! I moved to Brooklyn fifteen years ago to get my MFA at Pratt Institute; I've been a professional fine artist for my entire adult life and have shown my work extensively in and around New York. I’m currently the lead faculty in painting in an MFA program and have taught traditional oil painting at local ateliers for years. I also teach plein air workshops in the Hudson Valley through the Artist’s Workshop Association. In 2018 I was invited by the US Department of State to teach a series of oil painting workshops at an art college in Algiers, Algeria, because one of my paintings hangs in the Ambassador's Residence there. It was an amazing experience! I love talking about painting and drawing and demonstrating what I've learned. Since 2018 I have taught online extensively and have made a series of instructional videos. I’m very (very) comfortable teaching virtually and use multiple cameras to offer a comprehensive view of the painting and the palette at the same time. For both drawing and painting, I lead my students through a series of exercises that teach the fundamentals of observation and execution. My own work is very realistic, so I have the technical skills to demonstrate to students how to reach the goals they want, whether or not they want the results to be exactly true to life. A lot of my students end up making more expressionist work which is great! And some others are interested in making very traditional paintings.