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Color and Composition

Taught by Karen Lynn Ingalls
On hold for now — but this content and more is part of Acrylic Painting Online, beginning May 22, 2021

How many times have you been stuck on a painting, not knowing just what it was that wasn't working? Frustrating, isn't it?
Picture
The Red Tree • Acrylics on full sheet watercolor paper • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
In this workshop, you'll get specific, practical tools and know-how to help you create compelling color and compositions. You'll be able to identify what makes a painting work, and know how to fix it when it's not.
Picture
The Romance of Books • Acrylics on canvas • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
​​You'll start out by learning all about choosing the colors of your palette, and learning how to make them work together well.

Next you'll learn about basic principles of composition, design, and color in context, and see examples clearly illustrating each principle, so you can put them into practice in your own paintings.
Picture
Vineyard Tree • 36"x 48" • Acrylics on canvas • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
You will learn:
  • how to choose the colors of your palette
  • how to make your colors work well together
  • the two basic kinds of paintings, compositionally speaking, no matter what the subject matter (or lack of subject matter)
  • what a focal point is, whether a painting has or needs one, and how to find where to put it in your painting, if it does need one
  • how to lead the viewer's eyes through the painting
  • how to manage converging lines
  • the importance of values, and how to use them effectively
  • the use of complementary colors and color intensity to lead the viewer's eyes through the painting
  • how colors affect our perception of other colors in the painting
  • how to find what isn't working in your painting
  • and more!
Picture
Dusk in the Vineyards • 48" x 48" • Acrylics on canvas • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
Whether you paint landscapes, still lifes, portraits, or abstracts, or work in any other genre, the same principles apply. When you make better compositions and know how to work with color, you'll make better paintings!
We'll also conduct this as kind of a clinic for paintings – you'll learn how to diagnose their ailments, and be able to prescribe treatments. Bring two or three of your own paintings that aren't working, any photographs you have of your sources for each painting, and one or two canvases on which you can work out new solutions to the painting or paintings of your choice. 
You can also bring your own photographs and sketches as resources for new paintings you'd like to work on. (Contact Karen if you'd like to do this with work in a medium other than acrylics, such as water-mixable oils, pastels, watercolors, or colored pencils. Though these principles apply to oil paints, too, for toxicity reasons, you won't be able to bring oil paints to work with.)
Picture
Sunset Meadow • 36" x 48" • Acrylics on canvas • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
Note: This is about problem-solving, not about judgement. You'll also learn how to solve a painting's problems without the judgements of your inner critic.

And you'll go home with Karen's mini-book on Color and Composition — a "toolbox" of solutions — specific, practical tools and know-how — that you can use to get out of, and avoid, those painting predicaments from here on out. Join us, and learn how to create paintings with truly compelling compositions and color!
​​Click here to download
​the 2020 Color and Composition flyer.


Date: See dates and times for Acrylic Painting Online, beginning May 22, 2021

Time: 10:00 AM - 1PM PDT
Location: Your home studio / creative space and online (you'll receive a link to the meeting room online)

Cost: ...
Includes Karen's mini-book on Color and Composition, which you can use as an ongoing reference and resource.

Set up your painting space ahead of time, so you're all set to go when we meet on Saturday.

Your choice of painting materials! Though each medium has its own particulars as to methods of application, these principles apply to them all.

Maximum of 12 people;
minimum of 4.
​Sign up early to ensure your place!
 You can register online here:

http://www.calistogaartcenter.org/acrylic-painting-online​

​​For more information, call Karen Lynn Ingalls at (707) 942-0197.​​
Download Materials List here.
Arts and Crafts, painting of trees at dusk, California landscape painting of trees, by Karen Lynn Ingalls
Breakfast al Fresco • 12" x 12" • Acrylics on canvas • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
landscape painting of rural California, by Karen Lynn Ingalls
Field Station Road • Acrylics on full sheet watercolor paper • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
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Abstract painting (Arch and Moon) • 16" x 20" • Acrylics on canvas • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
​The tools you'll come home with apply to abstract paintings, too!
Picture
Little Red Apple • 8" x 10" Acrylics on panel • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
fauve painting of trees in spring, colorist landscape art of trees in spring, by Karen Lynn Ingalls
Just-Spring • 10" x 10" • Acrylics on canvas • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
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My Father's Birds • 16" x 20" • Acrylics on canvas • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
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Dusk Near Diamond Mountain • 20" x 16" • Acrylics on canvas • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
Landscape paintings, landscape art of Northern California, Napa Valley artist Karen Lynn Ingalls
​
See more of the artwork 
of Napa Valley artist and art teacher 
Karen Lynn Ingalls at KarenLynnIngalls.com.

Call Karen for more information
​at (707) 942-0197
All text and images are the copyright of Karen Lynn Ingalls, unless otherwise stated, and may not be reproduced without her express written permission.