Abstract Landscape Painting Workshop

I'm settling down after the weekend's excitement, what with the county fair and Calistoga's Fourth of July parade (the Silverado parade - it was great!), and looking forward to this coming Saturday's painting workshop.

I've got a lot to pack in to the time, so it will be a full and fun day. We're going to look at several different artists for inspiration – artists who begin with the landscape as their inspiration, but who take it in very different, and abstracted, directions. Then we'll take three different approaches to abstraction, trying them out for size. It's a good way to experiment and find out not only what interests you the most, but find out what approach feels best to you.

Are you wondering which artists we'll be looking at for inspiration? If you're familiar with my classes, you may recognize some of them. But you may not have seen the work of Tina Mammoser, an American artist living and working in England. Her work is inspired by the sea and the English coastline. Notice the layering, the sense of depth and space she creates, all within simplified, abstract compositions of absolute integrity. My favorites among her current pieces are her Black, Coast, and Lake Michigan series, but the smaller works are also lovely. I hope you'll take a look at her work – and take inspiration in what you see.