Acrylic Painting Lessons in Shaw Afb. Amazing Teachers.

I have been a professional oil painter for 36 years and have taught oil and acrylic painting classes fro over a decade. I teach a casual, fun but serious style class. My goal is to teach the basics of creating a simple strong painting in a semi realistic style. However, my goal is to allow the student to develop their own individual style. Understanding the creative process is also key to making good art.

Acrylic Painting 101

"Still life is the key that unlocks the secrets to great
painting. When painted with extraordinary perception
and ability, objects have the potential to allegorically
represent the full range of the human condition." Nelson Shanks

This still-life lessons will emphasize finding the rhythm in painting and learning when to make the shifts between balancing composition, drawing and color within a painting.

The workshop will commence from setting up a still-life and working out a composition with thumbnail sketches, then developing a color study, and then an open grisaille, the actual painting, working out the drawing issues, color development, keeping paint layers thin and even, and finding the areas where there would be more build-up of impasto and texture, and finally the last touch: removing what is not needed, and adding finishing details.

Depending on level we start with the basics and work our way up. There are NO mistakes in painting and I have 15 years experience, so I'm very patient. We work through what the student wants to achieve and go from there. I specialize in abstract and fluid painting.

As my student you will learn very important basic to intermediate foundation knowledge of the painting process. This involves Color theory, canvas preparations (wood, Canvas and other substrate choices), Brush selections, Mediums and thinning, Paint storage and reusing. We will work on transferring ideas from still life or sketch to canvas. We will cover brush stroke effects, blending, highlighting and work processes for an efficient and most importantly fun workflow.

I am an independent professional visual artist, with over 20 years' hands on teaching experience in U.S. and abroad.
At the age of 13, I began learning how to paint with my father, who is an established artist, in an informal studio class. Later, I decided to pursue higher education in fine arts and received my BFA and MFA degrees. While working on my Bachelor’s degree, I began teaching in schools and later in my private studio.
My expertise is to help others to discover their special talent, as I believe every person has a unique sense of creation. As an experienced art teacher and mentor, I have always provided a solid education for every one of my students and I have demonstrated an ability to engage students from diverse academic backgrounds and age groups.
My goal is to develop an understanding of and enthusiasm for arts in others by addressing different learning styles. I demonstrate both traditional practices and contemporary critical and technical approaches to painting.

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I love teaching art! I taught in the South Carolina school system for 5 years before having children but continued to teach privately at home. Now I teach evening classes twice a week to adults and we focus mainly on painting with acrylics. I have approximately 25 students and I'm amazed at how they are improving week to week..... and how much fun we have! I am great at teaching step-by-step lessons and encouraging students to add their own creative & unique touches. Also, I own a wholesale company called My Island.... I sell my art to retailers in the US and Caribbean; my designs are reproduced on tote bags, placemats, pillows, canvases, and lots more. I am also a successful Etsy Shop Owner.... GiftandhomebyGerri. I welcome music (mine or yours) while we paint......painting is my favorite thing in the world and I'd love to teach you!