Stan Goudey Acrylic Workshop

The old cliché about acrylics goes like this: “The big advantage of acrylics is that they dry really fast – and the big disadvantage of acrylics is that they dry really fast. “ Students will learn how to overcome the fast drying time of acrylics so that paint drying on the palette too soon and “hard edges” in the painting will not be a problem. We will not need a special palette such as the Masterson Sta-Wet. In this workshop Stan will educate participants on the “hierarchy of principles”. These are five principles that cover all aspects of painting. They are not styles, but principles, and apply to all media and cover everything from abstract expressionism to photorealism. The principles in order of importance are: Drawing, Values, Concept / Composition, Color & Technique. We will consider each of these as we go along, but the basic procedure will be to draw fast, either from a still life or photo reference, using a contour line. The students will then paint rapidly using thick paint, while doing all the color mixing on the painting surface, and no mixing on the palette. Some beneficial aspects of this method are that it breaks down the artists fear of paint, encourages spontaneity, produces unexpected color passages, allows the artists voice to come through, and is a heck of a lot of fun! With this method there is no time for worry or focusing unduly on producing a likeness of the subject matter. There are students who will want a slower, more considered approach and we will practice that as well. A basic understanding of drawing and color theory would be most helpful.