Category Archives: Beginning Painters

My Love Affair with Painting a Pear

Pear on the Horizon, acrylic on wood panel, 11×14 inches.

I have a little love affair with painting a pear. It shows up in various places, like teaching for example.

I teach a painting class at the University of New Mexico Continuing Education Department for complete beginners. I teach it every quarter. Because almost all of the students are actually beginners, I start by having them mix colors and I talk about the definition of value. I also have them paint something round to begin their process about shape and perspective.

Walnut and Pears, acrylic on canvas, 16×20 inches.

I frequently choose a pear for them to paint because they are much more interesting than a banana or a melon or a baseball, for example. I like pears because they come in quirky shapes and have lovely “hips” to add interest to a painting, and I always pick a pear with a special stem.

French Pears, acrylic on canvas, 16×20 inches.

This week as always in the class, I start the pear assignment by doing a demonstration of how I paint a pear. It is usually a successful assignment for all students and I think it is a good focus for the first class.

The task includes choosing the complementary color of the pear that I brought. This week the pear was yellow/green and the background was red/violet. It is an easy assignment.

We didn’t have time to finish the background so that was the homework, including home work for me. I am in the middle of another painting, but finishing my pear painting turned into a very relaxed meditation. I have painted many pears, but I especially liked the shape of my drawing. Here is my version of the class assignment:

Pear, 9×12 inches, acrylic on canvas board.

Everything felt just right and there was no stress about inspiration like there can be with a series that I am working on. I was just pleasurable. I find that painting things that I have painted before, that I may never sell, is just pure delight.

Beginning Painting

My class at the University of New Mexico, Continuing Education, Painting for the Complete Beginner ended last week. Here are a few examples of the work that was done in class. All of the paintings were done in acrylic. Although this was a beginning painting class, you can see the work is quite imaginative and well done.

Wendy Peterson, 2015

Don Koepke, 2015

Don Koepke, 2105

All of these paintings were done with the greatest care and diligence. It was such a pleasure to see students learn beginning techniques and then to watch them create such interesting and inspiring pieces. I hope that they all continue with their painting experience. They should. There certainly was talent in the group.

Joni Lebens, 2015

Corinne Armijo, 2015

My next class starts in June, 2015, and I get to experience the fun of playing with color all over again. I hope you enjoy these images, as much as I have.

Joni Lebens, 2015

Abbey Ibrahim, 2015

Painting for Beginners

My class at the University of New Mexico, Continuing Education, Painting for the Complete Beginner ended last week. Here are a few examples of the work that was done in class. All of the paintings were done in acrylic. As you can see the work is quite diverse and quite good.

All of these paintings were done with the greatest care and diligence. It was such a pleasure to see students learn beginning techniques and then to watch them create such interesting and inspiring pieces. I hope that they all go on with their painting experience. They should. There certainly was talent in the group.

My next class starts in January, 2015, and I get to experience the fun of playing with color all over again. I hope you enjoy these images, as much as I have.

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Painting for the Complete Beginner, Summer

This past Thursday was the last summer class of my University of New Mexico, Continuing Education class, Painting for the Complete Beginner. It was an enjoyable and fun class for me to teach. I enjoyed seeing how far students had come in such a short period of time. I was so impressed by how the new painters took their tasks seriously and worked so hard. Most did homework on their own and many finished paintings at home that were started in class.

Red Grapes, Patricia Lowrey, 2014

They started the class with just three colors: Cadmium Red and Yellow and Cobalt Blue plus white and black acrylic paint. The first night they experimented with color mixing, then I gave them each a lemon to paint, which was challenging for some, successful for all. In the following classes they were free to paint whatever they wanted.

Hawaiian Flowers, Deborah Maestas, 2014

At the end of the last class we displayed all available paintings that had been done. I think the painters were quite proud of themselves and somewhat surprised at how far they had come in 12-hours of instruction time. I was certainly proud of them.

Autumn Birch Trees, Linda Faust, 2014

Pretty in Blue, Jeannette D. Sanchez, 2014

Yellow Rose, Betty Gatton, Spring, 2014

Painting for the Complete Beginner II

Here are some additional paintings from my class at the University of New Mexico, Continuing Education, Painting for the Complete Beginner that ended last week. As you can see the work is quite diverse and quite good for new painters.

African Sculpture. Mark Koson, 2014

Clay Pot. Mark Koson , 2014

All of these paintings were done with the greatest care and diligence. It was such a pleasure to see students learn beginning techniques and then to create such interesting and inspiring pieces. I hope that they all continue with their painting experience. They should. There certainly was talent in the group.

Mac. Vanessa Gonzales, 2014

Twin Towers, Gone But Not Forgotten. Linda Faust, 2014

Crow. Jane Nelson, 2014

Untitled. David Robbins, 2014

My next class starts the first Thursday in June and I get to experience the fun of playing with color and shape again with many more hard-working artists.

Painting for the Complete Beginner

This past Thursday was the last class of my University of New Mexico, Continuing Education class, Painting for the Complete Beginner. It was a very enjoyable art class for me to teach. I was so impressed by how the new painters took their tasks seriously and worked so hard. Some did homework on their own and many finished paintings at home that were started in class.

Pear. Lynn Eby, 2014

They started the class with just three colors, Cadmium Red and Yellow and Cobalt Blue plus white and black. Few in the class had drawing experience, but that did not slow anyone down. They dove in the first night by experimenting with color mixing. The second class involved painting a pear, which was challenging for some, successful for all.

At the end of the last class we displayed all available paintings that had been done. I think the painters were quite proud of themselves and somewhat surprised at how far they had come in just six classes (12 hours of instruction time). I was certainly proud of them.

Impending Storm. Camilla Brom, 2014

In the remaining four classes they painted whatever they wanted. It was so interesting to see how many different subjects people chose to paint in those four classes. They did paintings that included crows to landscapes. They were all open to suggestions and readily made changes that I suggested. I asked them to take a photo of their work, and here are some examples.

Here are more examples: