Blog

Time has been weird lately.  For the past 15 years I have led a very busy and blessed life of painting, teaching, exhibiting, jurying, writing and traveling.  I have often felt like one of those plate spinners in the circus running from pole to pole to keep each plate turning on its axis and tweaking any that start to wobble.

Over the past few months the plates wobbled, stopped, and were gently laid on the ground and I am OK with that.  I am not an essential worker and can serve the greater good by laying low.  

I have cancelled all of my in person teaching for 2020, and my Maine workshop has been postponed until September 2021.  The risk and uncertainty are not worth returning to the classroom.   I thank all of you who signed up for classes and workshops and look forward to working with you again in the future.   I am continuing my online lessons through my Patreon site, and am proud of the community that is building there.  I have seen a tremendous growth in the work the students are posting and it makes my teacher heart happy.  

In April we focused on color identification and color mixing.  In May we used that same information to copy master paintings.  The goal was not to create an exact copy but to use the lessons we learned in April to copy the color relationships.  The video posted here is a sped up version of two video lessons where I copied Vermeer’s painting, “Girl with a Red Hat.”  I used pastel rather than oil to show that it is about the color relationships and not the medium.  I also painted a copy of Willard Metcalf’s painting, “Unfolding Buds.”  In each lesson I explain why I choose the colors on my palette and how I mixed them.  No one will accuse me of forgery but the results are surprisingly good and I learned a lot in the process. 

I will be slowly adding to my online offerings and plan to add workshops and mentoring, as well as an online exhibition.  Right now I am taking some time to think and plan, paint my house and completely rework a much neglected garden.

Stay safe and healthy everyone,

Thank you for your support and conversation

Join me at my Patreon site, The Painter’s Classroom, where for $5 a month you get lessons in the form of videos, blogs, handouts, plus you get your art questions answered.  www.patron.com/viannaszabo.