Plein Air & Live Model in the Gardens with Barbara Saunders

Friday, Nov. 1, 2024 | 10:30am - 1:00pm

Experience the light and colors of the beautiful OMAM gardens while learning to bring life and movement into your artwork with the aid of a live model. Students will learn through demonstrations and tutorial how to interpret and map a landscape plan in the OMAM gardens. Then with a live model and guidance from the instructor, students will learn to develop a keen eye and hand for creating a lifelike figure. The instructor will explain how to interpret the individual in the lifelike style “contrapposto” (the counterpose), invented by the Greeks to imbue life into static human form. Students will then learn to connect the landscape setting with a human model, creating a series of working sketches and “painting starts.”

As a final exercise, students will discuss and translate “starts” to finishes in acrylic, watercolor, or pastel to create a final piece of art. Choose and bring the medium you are comfortable using: acrylic, watercolor, or pastel.

Students are responsible for bringing the following materials:

• Paint/brushes/mediums of your choice – paint or pastel recommended (minimal paint colors: cadmium red, ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow light, white)
• Canvas 11 x 14 or larger
• Sketch pad (option to borrow sketch paper and clipboard from the museum)
• Pencils (option to borrow from the museum)
• If you own a plein air easel, please bring it (option to borrow from the museum for the first 10 students to reserve an easel)

​​​​​​Registration will close when workshop is full.

About the Instructor

Barbara Crispino Saunders began her formal fine art education during her Master’s work at Ithaca College in NY. She has been studying painting under some of the most internationally recognized master painters for over 30 years, evolving to oil for its luminosity, strong pigments and forgiving nature. Her work is found in galleries in NY and Florida and held in private collections throughout the US. A Florida certified elementary teacher, and former OMAM curator, Barbara’s history has included decades of fine art instruction for children and adults.