Bill Cramer: Desert Colors – October 17-18, 2023
$410.00
This workshop is no longer available. Please consider Bill’s April 9 – 10, 2024 workshop.
Unlock the secrets of plein air painting in the beautiful saguaro filled scenery of the Sonoran Desert with award winning artist Bill Cramer. Daily demos and discussions will illuminate a variety of approaches that can be used to create meaningful studies and finished works. Bill will offer real time critiques of your efforts with an eye toward expanding your artistic sensibilities. Classes will take place outdoors in the composition rich deserts surrounding Tucson.
Hours: 8am – 5pm.
Out of stock
I grew up in the west and have always had an interest in exploring nature and creating art. As a longtime rock climber, I spent (misspent?) much of my youth enjoying the more vertical aspects of the landscape. After receiving a University of California fine arts degree, my wife Michelle and I moved to Arizona to be closer to the scenery we both enjoyed. It was there that I discovered the delight and challenges of plein air painting. My plein air work, along with my outdoor adventuring, has provided me insights into the landscape that I bring with me back to the studio.
I work in a style best described as Impressionistic Realism, where strong brushwork and colors are used to express the vitality and beauty of the natural world. I look for a balance between the actual scene and my reaction to it – not to paint precisely what I see, but to paint what I want the viewer to see. Every landscape is greater than the obvious visual elements. The push of an evening breeze, the feel of sun baked sandstone, the scent of sagebrush or the sound of a raven suddenly overhead are examples of the many unseen elements that inform my work. I’m satisfied when a painting is as rich as the landscape that inspired it. My goals are to keep exploring the southwest’s wild places, search for new ideas and express what I find exciting about landscapes and about painting.
Selected Shows, Competitions & Awards –
• Oil Painters of America Annual Salon Show (2018), Landscape Award of Excellence.
• Phippen Western Art Show (2018), Best in Show, 1st in Oils and Art of the West Award of Excellence.
Unlock the secrets of plein air painting in the beautiful saguaro filled scenery of the Sonoran Desert with award winning artist Bill Cramer. Daily demos and discussions will illuminate a variety of approaches that can be used to create meaningful studies and finished works. Bill will offer real time critiques of your efforts with an eye toward expanding your artistic sensibilities. Classes will take place outdoors in the composition rich deserts surrounding Tucson.
Workshop participants will learn various approaches to working on-site and how to efficiently compose and complete plein air paintings. Emphasis will be placed on how to effectively translate the often complex three-dimensional landscape onto a two dimensional plane using thumbnail sketches, limited palettes and the thoughtful use of colors, values, shapes, edges and textures. Further emphasis will be placed on the creative process to make paintings that are more than strict representations of the landscape we see. Multiple demonstrations will be complemented by individual attention and group learning. All students should have a good familiarity with their equipment and some previous workshop experience with plein air painting. Bill will be demonstrating with oil paints, but students can use the medium of their choice.
Along the way, we will touch on the principles of mark making, composition, value, texture and color, the same principles behind any style of art.
