Workshops

Working en plein air can be very challenging, but it is always worth the effort. Ray will share with you a wealth of information on the subject, as well as the overall principles of painting. We will also have a "slide show" of contemporary and classical paintings demonstrating important facets of plein air painting. We will spend a good amout of time on the most important thing: getting off to a good start. Nature offers us a wealth of fascinating subjects, but we need to limit what we pick from the buffet or suffer from visual indigestion. With plein air painting, it is important to learn what to leave out so we can avoid painting those pesky leaves that are so attractive, when we actually want to paint the forest. This workshop is for all media, but since Ray is primarily a pastellist, demos will be done in that media.

Working en plein air can be very challenging, but it is always worth the effort. Ray will share with you a wealth of information on the subject, as well as the overall principles of painting. We will also have a "slide show" of contemporary and classical paintings demonstrating important facets of plein air painting. We will spend a good amout of time on the most important thing: getting off to a good start. Nature offers us a wealth of fascinating subjects, but we need to limit what we pick from the buffet or suffer from visual indigestion. With plein air painting, it is important to learn what to leave out so we can avoid painting those pesky leaves that are so attractive, when we actually want to paint the forest. This workshop is for all media, but since Ray is primarily a pastellist, demos will be done in that media.

There are still openings in this 4 day workshop for all levels. The cost will be $350/student for the workshop. Deposit fee is $75 with the remainder due July 9. We will be  meeting in North Creek NY at the base of Gore Mountain, a historic ski town in the Adirondacks. North Creek is undergoing a renaissance and there are excellent restaurants, delightful shops that feature the work of local artisans, tours to the mountain, art shows, whitewater rafting and many other outdoor and indoor activities. There are several lovely B&Bs and hotels to choose from for your accomodations, and I'll send a list of them on request. Some will offer special rates for this workshop, I'm told.

We have a lot of painting choices for location and will be 1/2 hour away from both Lake George, and the smaller, yet still gorgeous, Schroon Lake, Thirteenth Lake, the Hudson River, the North Creek, streams, the Schroon River and mountainous views.  Rainy weather is not expected (he said with his fingers crossed), but if it shows up, we will have a place to work indoors and we will work from photos--I will have a lot of them with me, students may bring some of their own.

Call or email Ray for further information.

Basics and beyond in pastels. We will talk about materials and methods. That is, the different kinds and brands of pastels on the market today, the different papers and panels available, and some of the ways to work with pastels that go beyond the traditional, eg. underpainting, using water, etc. We will touch on framing methods and photographing your artwork, too. Ray will demo each day, and participants will be encouraged to experiment and have fun working in different ways.

This plein air workshop will be at centered around the 1863 Farmers Road B&B (http://www.1863farmersroadbandb.com) run by Mary McIntosh in New Braunfels TX.  Dates are Oct 11-13 with an optional fourth day (Oct 14) at the students' discretion. It will cover the basics of working on site, from finding subject mattter to working quickly to capture a scene, with many stops along the way to cover other subjects. There will be a slide presentation of paintings by many artists covering the five important subjects of Big Shapes, Composition, Values, Color, and Edges. I will do at least 2 demos in pastel. The workshop is geared to pastellists, but oil or acrylic painters may also sign up. We will have an exercise or two that will help, and we will enjoy daily summing up and critique sessions.

For more information about the actual workshop, contact Ray at ray@rayhassard.com, or 513 941 1116

For more about the location and accomodations, contact Mary McIntosh as listed above.

People in public, engaging in everyday activities, can make for great paintings. We are surrounded by wonderful but overlooked subjects, from farmers markets to supermarkets, shopping malls and airports to restaurants and city streets, but the confusion and constant movement can be overwhelming. We will learn how to find those great pictures out there and how to tackle and overcome the problems involved. Students should bring their own photos of public scenes to paint from, but Ray will also have many of his own available.
Day 1
We will discuss working from photographs, the difficulties of keeping it fresh and overlooking the wealth of details. With an image in mind, we will learn about transferring the picture to the painting surface, blocking in and simplifying the image to emphasise the focal point and starting with a division into big shapes and lights and darks. There will be a morning demo emphasizing the drawing and block-in stages, and in the afternoon students will paint, getting a good start on a painting..
Day 2
We will start with a "slide show" of good examples of paintings, both contemporary and older, that show basic aspects of painting. A brief demo will complete the painting begun yesterday, showing the next and final stages of a work. Students will have the afternoon to paint, either to finish up a work in progress or start a new one. The workshop will end with a show/critique of participants' work and summing up with time for any final questions