ABSTRACTION BY DESIGN WITH MICHAEL SHEMCHUK

June 14-16, 2024 Port Orchard, WA

Join Michael Shemchuk, or Shem in this 3-day abstract painting AbD workshop in Port Orchard, WA.

The Abstract by Design method is the process of exploring collage and painting technologies by multi layering the mediums of paper and paint on panels. The layering of paper and paint enables you to sand, scrape, wet, peel, paint, collage and repeat to create controlled and incidental textured surfaces. We use acrylic polyurethane as a glue to attach papers, as a resist coat, and as a top coat as well.

Collaging involves color selection, paper choices, placement, gluing, mark making, composition and surface extraction. Painting involves panel prep, trowel application, brushing, sanding, surface manipulations, paint mixing and texturing.

The goal is to create individual panels that stand on their own and, work in concert as well. This parameter allows you to focus on your design and composition skills, while creating a visual dialog between your panels.

You decide in class the series format you want to work in with your 12 panels: Linear (6 over 6), Stacked (3 over 4), Diptych’s or Triptychs.

The principals Action, Reaction, Repeat (A.R.R.) begins by processing with an action by applying paint or collage to your panels. Pause, and review the action, then repeat another action. This requires taking time to observe your work, measure your response to both the controlled (deliberate) and spontaneous (happy accidents!). We will follow these A.R.R. principles as we create your work.

This workshop is full. A waitlist has started.

This Art Escape includes

• Three days instruction from Shem

• beautiful studio to create in

• 3 lunches, 1 dinner

• some supplies

• new tribe

The cost for this Escape is $800. A $500 nonrefundable deposit is due upon registering. The remaining $300 dollars is due April 14, 2024.

Port Orchard is the site for the workshop. The location is 9 miles north of Gig Harbor, WA which is listed as one of the most desirable cities in the US to visit (or live). It is located south of Seattle, across the Narrows Bridge on Hwy 16.

The Bremerton-Kitsap Airporter stops in Gig Harbor and in Port Orchard.

There are many Arbnbs and B&Bs in the area. A list of accommodations will be provided if requested

We will Provide

• scrubber sponge

• 80 grit sandpaper and sanding block

• chip brushes

• gallon buckets

• paint rags/stir sticks

Student Supply List*

• 12- 12”x12” x 7/8” cradled panels. (See Blick item 07044-1212)

• 1-qt white latex house paint. (Flat or satin sheen)

• 1-qt black latex house paint. (Flat or satin sheen)

• 2-qts. Acrylic urethane/varnish clear medium.(gloss or semigloss)

• 18+ sheets black tissue. Resource: https://www.papermart.com

• 12+ sheets 18”x22” newsprint.

• Variety of personal collage papers and color tissue (color, pattern, graphics, craft paper and re-purposed).

• Color paint. 3-6 colors of latex house or acrylic artist paints or liquid pigments

• One 6”wide flexible broad knife and

• One 1” putty knife.

• 8+ pint/quart plastic mixing containers w/lids

• Scissors

• Utility knife

• Spray bottle (atomizer)

• wiping rags

• artist brushes

• hair dryer or heat gun

  Pre-class assignment:

  Cradle prep

  Apply 2 coats acrylic clear urethane (gloss or semi gloss) to all cradle sides and let dry between coats. Tape all cradle (sides) with low stick (blue) tape

*There is a Lowes 4.5 miles from the studio where you can purchase paint.

Michael Shemchuk is an abstract artist living and working in Northern California. Largely self-taught, Shem did not emerge on the art scene in a conventional fashion.

Shem’s work has evolved over the last two decades, shaped directly by a close engagement with material and process. From the onset, Shem’s focus has been on abstraction and design. Influenced by his earlier faux finish work, Shem’s Meridian series, begun in the late nineties, used paint and plaster as primary media. In 2014, Shem became interested in the changes in art-making stemming from shifts in technology. His response was to re-evaluate traditional materials such as paper and paint, thus simplifying his approach to abstraction with the Tags series. In 2017, Shem was inspired to further his pursuit of abstraction and design by streamlining his materials and employing process as integral to his work. The result is his Surface Tension series, which is based on an organic process involving water, paper, pressure, friction, and time. In addition to his art-making, Shem teaches the principles of Abstraction by Design (AbD) to students and fellow artists via workshops and private mentoring.

Kathie Vezzani is a mixed media artist who loves anything rusty. She rusts, paints and uses encaustic and cold wax in her practice. She also creates mixed media sculptures. In her spare time, she organizes workshops for other artists. She will be hosting this workshop in her new studio.

THE SPIRIT OF UNSTRUCTURED PLAY + EXPERIMENTATION WITH JULIE HAMILTON

June 8-10, 2024

Port Orchard, WA

Join Canadian Artist Julie Hamilton for a 3-day intensive workshop exploring creative applications of mixed media.

Together we will be creating large works on paper: exploring marks, layers and textures. Slowly we will distill these down to colors, images and patterns that inspire and excite us. Smaller studies that define your visual vocabulary and the process of finding your creative self.

Our end goal is to shift our creative lens away from what we habitually create and dive a little deeper into what we love, learning to trust our intuition in a fun and carefree way along the way. Throughout the process we will discuss colour mixing and palettes, design and composition.

For our final project we will gather together our smaller studies, learn the art of collage and bind it all together in our very own handmade creative journal. A gathering place to record all that inspires us and visually tells our story. I like to think of it as a wish list for your creative path.

This class is for new artists and intermediates alike who are looking to push their creativity and skills. 

Basic knowledge of acrylic paint is required.

In this class we will cover:

• Finding inspiration and learning how to document it.

• Different paint applications

• Layers and glazes

• Creative mark making tools and how to expand upon them

• Making your own collage papers and the art of piecing them together

• Bookbinding techniques

• The tools of a Daily Art practice

A PDF will be supplied for all techniques used in class.

BONUS: A mini course inviting you to gather your inspiration and learn the art of developing a mood board.

Itinerary

Each day we will meet in the studio at 9:30, break for lunch and then class will be over at 4:30. One exception is dinner on the 9th will be provided.

This Art Escape includes

• Three days instruction from Julie

• A beautiful studio to create in

• 3 lunches, 1 dinner

• Some supplies

• New tribe

The cost for this Escape is $800.

A $500 nonrefundable deposit is due upon registering. The remaining $300 dollars is due April 8, 2024.

Port Orchard is the site for the workshop. The location is 9 miles north of Gig Harbor, WA which is listed as one of the most desirable cities in the US to visit (or live). It is located south of Seattle, across the Narrows Bridge on Hwy 16.

The Bremerton-Kitsap Airporter stops in Gig Harbor and in Port Orchard.

There are many Arbnbs and B&Bs in the area.

We all love art supplies, but Julie’s wish is for you to get creative and use what you have on hand.

We will provide:

• Matt Medium

• Gesso

• Studio Rags

• Water containers

• Oil Pastels

• Foam brushes

• Julie will provide sketchbook paper and book binding supplies for the final project. All of your beautiful art will be used to fill it up!

BASIC SUPPLY LIST

• Mixed Media Paper - heavy weight paper 90lb 9x12 or larger

• Scissors - small size Honey Bee or Fiskars

• Exacto Knife

• Cutting mat

• Ruler

• Water Spray bottle

• Paint Palette - or 2 Trays +  Parchment paper

• Brushes -  A variety of different sizes and different shapes. Old brushes work well here too

• Catalyst Wedge

• Palette knives in different sizes. Old credit cards work well too.

• Acrylic Paint - Red, Blue, Yellow, Black, White. Student grade is fine, but please no craft paint.

  Fluid paint works best, but if you have heavy body paint then also feel free to use. We will learn how to extend paint with medium.

• Acrylic Ink - Red, Blue, Yellow, Black, White

• Pens and Markers

• Pencils/ Crayons

COLLAGE PAPERS

Ideas include:

• Tissue paper in white plus a few other colors if you have

• Scrapbook paper. Old envelopes, maps or stationery. Ledger or graph paper.

• Envelopes,sewing patterns, music sheets, wallpaper samples

MARK MAKING TOOLS

• Look around your house! Think...Old toothbrush and makeup brushes.

• Corks. Elastic bands. Ear swabs. Bamboo skewers, Twine, Old sticks

OPTIONAL

Please feel free to bring any other favorite materials and mediums! It's all about mixed media .

Julie is a mixed media artist who practices creative play and possibility. She likes to describe her creative process as being in a wonderful state of creative chaos due to an overactive imagination that is always questioning…What If?​She loves the endless possibility that creating art provides. There are so many mediums to explore and so much to learn. She is happiest with a paintbrush in one hand, scissors in the other.

Her art career has led her down many different paths from painter to surface pattern designer, illustrator of children's books and now teaching. It has been a wonderful journey that has connected her with so many other like minded creatives.

Kathie Vezzani, who is hosting the workshop, also is an artist who paints, rusts and waxes. She organizes trips for other artists and in a former life was a caterer. She has over three decades of experience organizing trips for foodies and artists.

WOODLAND WANDERINGS WITH GILLIAN LEE SMITH

May 11-15, 2024 Port Orchard

So excited to share that Gillian Lee Smith will be hopping the pond to join us for two workshops.

Whether wandering in a small woodland or a vast forest, there is something about trees, the air and the softness of the ground that changes how we breathe, move and feel. We can reflect the beautiful, earthy, mysterious atmosphere of the woodland and undergrowth. We are invited to feel as rooted and grounded as the trees are. It is a chance to pause, observe, and connect with nature and ourselves and perhaps even folklore or those who have gone before us. 

Between 2020 and 2023, Gillian created a body of work called Beneath Shadowed Woods, and it all began with walks and pencil sketches in local woodland during lockdown, then hours of painting into accordion sketchbooks at her dining table with mixed media. With relatively simple materials, pages and pages of layered and evocative imagery unfolded, all inspired by those woodland walks. Gillian would love to share this process with you in this workshop, showing her techniques for building up expressive, layered and textured pages full of atmosphere and the magical feeling of a forest. 

We will visit a local forest to walk, draw and photograph before spending three days in the studio immersed in painting. We will work in accordion sketchbooks, creating beautiful imagery on each page. The book's magic is that it also allows for an expanded, continuous image that can be folded out to reflect our wandering walks through the forest. 

Itinerary

Day One - May 11. We will meet in the studio at 9:30 a.m. Gillian will go over the schedule for our workshop. Then off we go to visit a local forest to walk and sketch. Breathing in the atmosphere of the forest, grounding ourselves in nature and gathering visual imagery in the form of pencil drawings and photos to inspire or workshop days. Gillian will demonstrate how she draws from nature with a simple pencil and sketchbook. Lunch will be provided. Class will be over at 4:30 p.m.

Day Two - May 12. Class starts at 9:30, breaking for lunch (provided) and concluding at 4:30 p.m.

Gillian will share her accordion sketchbooks and other inspirations, as well as photos from her local woodland. We will begin laying the foundations of our book pages, building up textures and gestures to give the feeling of the shapes and visual movement of the forest. 

Day Three - May 13.Class starts at 9:30, breaking for lunch (provided) and concluding at 4:30 p.m.

Gillian will share her method of building layers, mark-making, opacity, transparency, visual texture and movement with a rich but limited color palette to capture the feeling of the forest. 

Day Four - May 14. Class starts at 9:30 a.m. We will continue adding layers to our pages. Lunch and Dinner will be provided.

Day Five - May 15. We will meet at 9:30 a.m. in the studio for our last day together. We will add final details and touches that will finish our pages off beautifully. After lunch, we will finish any last minute details before cleaning up and sharing our work in a Show ‘N Tell. Class will be over at 4:30 p.m.

This Art Escape includes

• Five days instruction from Gillian

• A beautiful studio to create in

• 5 lunches, 1 dinner

• Some supplies

• New tribe

The cost for this Escape is $1300. A $700 nonrefundable deposit is due upon registering. The remaining $600 dollars is due Feb. 17, 2024.

Port Orchard is the site for the workshop. The location is 9 miles north of Gig Harbor, WA which is listed as one of the most desirable cities in the US to visit (or live). It is located south of Seattle, across the Narrows Bridge on Hwy 16.

The Bremerton-Kitsap Airporter stops in Gig Harbor and in Port Orchard.

There are many Arbnbs and B&Bs in the area.

We Will Provide

• A4 Accordion sketchbook 

• Gesso

• Water containers

• Paper towels

• India Ink

• Some inks

• Paint rags

Student Supply List

• Cameral or phone camera

• Sketchbook - Gillian likes Moleskine 5.8 x 5.5 inches

• A couple of pencils - Gillian likes Blackwing 

• Acrylic ink in burnt umber and any other colours you like - Gillian likes Liquitex transparent inks (Prussian blue, transparent red oxide)

• Acrylic paint - White, yellow, blue, and red in acrylic paint. Recommendations - buff titanium or titanium white, quinacridone nickel azo gold or nickel azo yellow, cerulean blue or phthalo blue, red oxide or burnt sienna.

• Liquitex gloss medium

• A range of paint brushes - a 1-inch brush, a few sized 4 to 8, a rigger (very fine long) brush, one other small fine brush such as a size 0 or 1

• A couple of palette knives and an old credit-type card

• A dip pen

• A small spray bottle

Optional extras 

• Some metallic ink or acrylic paint - Gillian likes bronze

• A dagger brush (with a diagonal edge)

Gillian Lee Smith is a Scottish artist living in the beautiful, historic North-East coast of England that daily influences her work. As a teacher, Gillian is inspired to bring her love of people and place to each workshop using a wealth of techniques to make new discoveries along with her students. She has several very successful online courses and a mentoring program.

Kathie Vezzani, who is hosting the workshop, also is an artist who paints, rusts and waxes. She organizes trips for other artists and in a former life was a caterer. She has over three decades of experience organizing trips for foodies and artists.