Join Melinda in this new workshop where we look at various approaches to using multiple figures in your paintings. Learn various methods of cropping, stacking and overlapping figures that you can use for jumping off points in your work. Composition, color and more will be addressed. Additionally, we will discuss narrative and how a painting can develop over time verses quicker, more planned paintings. As always, morning “Spark It!” exercises will get your creativity flowing.
This workshop is for intermediate to advanced level students. Oil paint or Acrylic paint is acceptable. Oil painters may use cold wax medium if desired, however, this is not a cold wax specific course.
Melinda Cootsona has been teaching painting to students of all levels for over 21 years. Beginning with weekly classes in her home studio, her career evolved into teaching workshops throughout the U.S. and Europe. Additionally, Melinda has been on the forefront of eCourse instruction developing her first course in 2012. Known for giving specific feedback and quality, constructive critiques, her courses are in high demand. Teaching creativity and art to students all over the world is an essential part of Melinda’s work.
Greatly influenced by the Bay Area artistic tradition, her paintings focus on the strength of the female figure. Created with layers of oil paint, applied and then scraped away, her paintings reveal figures that fill the canvas in varying poses of contemplation or reflection in abstracted surroundings. Whether in a soft or harsh surrounding, the strength of the female figure is primary.
Melinda’s work has been included in exhibitions at the Bakersfield Museum of Art and the Triton Museum in California, The San Francisco Art Market, The Coos Bay Museum of Art in Oregon, and Art Basel Miami, as well as many group and solo shows throughout the U.S.
Cootsona received her BA from the California College of the Arts. Her work can be found in collections in the United States, Europe, Australia, and China. She is represented by Seager Gray Gallery, in Mill Valley, CA and The Studio Shop, in Burlingame, CA.
