PLEIN AIR GALVESTON
A 4-DAY WORKSHOP
WITH
THOMAS JEFFERSON KITTS
MAY 6-9, 2024
FEE IS $695.00
A DEPOSIT OF $350 IS DUE UPON REGISTRATION.
BALANCE OF $345.00 IS DUE APRIL 10, 2024
Class limited to 15 students
Refunds: $100 cancellation fee on or before April 10, 2024. No refunds after April 10, 2024.
Dates: May 6 - 9, 2024
Skill: Intermediate to Advanced (meaning, you have some experience painting outdoors) Media: Oil, Pastel, Acrylic (Watercolor & Gouache upon review by instructor) Location: In and around Galveston, Texas
Learn to paint the landscape in the most direct way possible using alla prima oil painting techniques developed by Sargent, Sorolla, and Zorn. This workshop will show you how to work quickly outdoors with more confidence and skill!
To learn more about Thomas, visit: www.thomaskitts.com
or visit Thomas’ Facebook page: www.facebook.com/thomaskitts
Plein Air Galveston will focus on essential concepts every outdoor painter should know, such as how to work fast and state things clearly. In this class, you will learn how to immediately establish a composition; how to reduce complexities into simpler value masses; and of course, how to reduce or eliminate unnecessary detail. What you will learn in this workshop will improve your painting in every possible way – indoors or out.
Thomas will introduce new painting concepts to you each day. Ideas that will range from basic, yet helpful color theory you may have missed, to mixing naturalistic color and responding to the temperature of light.
You will also learn several ways to start and finish a painting using alla prima techniques. And finally, you will learn how to compose and lead the viewer’s eye to a dynamic focal point and how to decide when your painting is complete.
Your painting locations will include coastal and inland landscapes, with Galveston being our center point. We will maximize painting time, and minimize driving time, while providing you with a variety of inspirational subject matter.
Class Expectations: You can expect to start and finish at least two paintings a day; one in the morning, and another after lunch. Thomas will provide clear and concise demos for each concept he shares so it will be clear what is expected from you.
This workshop will focus on five essential topics:
- 1. Composing with value, and creating form and space using value, color, and chroma
- 2. Quickly seeing & mixing naturalistic color
- 3. Painting shapes and turning surface planes with gestural brush strokes
- 4. Leading the eye with lost & found edges and other time-honored principles
- 5. Thin & Thick and Transparent vs Opaque paint
Thomas will also cover additional things you should know, such as:
- 1. How to understanding relationships by making comparisons
- 2. The difference between painting on a sunny vs a cloudy day
- 3. How the color of light modifies and harmonizes the local colors in your subject
- 4. Combining warm & cool temperatures with light & shadow massing
- 5. Varying and freeing up your brush work
- 6. The three stages of Alla Prima painting: the Block-in, the Set-up, and the final Top Work
In addition to the group’s instruction, Thomas will tailor your one-on-one time with him to your own needs and interests. So don’t delay, we have limited seating. Register now!
About Thomas Jefferson Kitts, Your instructor: Thomas is inspired by how light plays across the landscape and he has devoted most of his life to capturing it in oil. Thomas prefers to work directly from life for its honesty and immediacy, incorporating many alla prima techniques developed by master artists such as Sargent, Sorolla, and Zorn.
Select List of Prestigious Collections:
Maryhill Museum of Art, Washington | permanent collection (2015) Maryhill Museum of Art, Washington | permanent collection (2017) Fleischer Museum, Arizona | permanent collection
Kaiser Permanente, Oregon | permanent collection Mariott Corporation, California | permanent collection Paul Allen Foundation, Oregon | permanent collection Portland University Club, Oregon | permanent collection
Select List of recent Museum Exhibitions:
Booth Western Art Museum, Georgia
Maryhill Museum of Art, Washington
Laguna Art Museum,
California Academy Museum of Art, Maryland
Curacao Maritime Museum, Curacao, Caribbean
Thomas is a signature member of the Laguna Beach Plein Air Painters Association, a member of the Oil Painters of America, American Impressionist Society, and the California Art Club. He travels extensively and maintains a distinguished exhibition history that includes many professional organizations such as the American Impressionist Society, Oil Painters of America and the Arts for the Parks (Top 100). His work is actively collected throughout North America by private and public insititutions.
Over the last ten years Thomas has been honored with numerous awards such as Maryhill Museum of Art Award (Maryhill, WA), Best of Show (Carmel, CA), Best International Artist (Curacao), Artist Choice (Laguna Beach, CA ), Hamilton Family Foundation Award (Lauguna Beach, CA), First Place (Maryhill Museum, WA), and Best New Artist (Easton MA) and numerous Honorable Mentions.
Thomas has also been featured in several issues of PleinAir Magazine and has been named as an Artist to Watch by The Informed Collector. He is also a multiple Raymar Art and PleinAir Magazine Salon Finalist. Thomas has been a guest lecturer at three Plein Air Convention & Expos in Monterey, California, and has two 3-DVD demonstrations of the painting techniques of the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla, and America’s John Singer Sargent, produced and distributed by Streamline Fine Arts Publishing.
For more information about Thomas visit: www.thomaskitts.com
Thomas, painting a large canvas en plein air in the Columbia Gorge, near his home in Portland, Oregon
