workshops

The creative workshop idea was born out of the idea of bringing like-minded creatives together under one roof for a focused period of time. Creatives often work in isolation, but enjoy and benefit from the exchange of ideas and real-time dialogue with people in similar fields. We host workshops across multiple disciplines, including: fiber arts to plein air painting, life drawing to abstraction, writing workshops with published authors to mixed media photography; yoga to mindfulness and personal development; and beyond. These workshops will be made up of tutorials, creative exercises, critiques, and one-on-ones with the instructors. Ideas will be shared, friends will be made, and your support network will expand.

Delight in our tranquil, country setting, perfect for focusing on work led by inspiring instructors and experts, while enjoying farm-to-table culinary delights catered by a local chef.

The dining experience at Willow Pond is elevated due to the extraordinary level of farm fresh, local foods and their accessibility. We have a wealth of talented chefs in this area who work with us and are as passionate about food as we are. Eggs are collected daily from our resident chickens and honey is provided by our resident bees on the property. Meals are curated from seasonal fresh produce with a local influence, and dining will be outside on the patio with views that linger long after the meal ends...

Willow Pond House can accommodate up to 9 people on-site sharing, or 5 people in individual rooms. If we are unable to accommodate you or you prefer to stay elsewhere, see the list at the bottom of the Guest Rooms page. 

THE DANCE OF LINE
AND COLOR

3-day workshop with Virginia Hein
May 17 - 19 , 2024 ( with an introduction on Thursday evening May 16)

Applications close April 18, 2024 or when maximum number of 15 attendees is reached.

FULLY BOOKED!

Expressive sketching and painting in the Central Coast Landscape. Line and color can each play expressive parts in your sketch, and the magic happens when we let each of these elements do what it does best!

In this Sketching Workshop Retreat, we’ll make the most of the expressive possibilities of line and color, as we explore how they can play exciting, complementary roles in your sketches. Bring your curiosity, and get ready to play and experiment!  

  • Develop more confident, expressive lines, and explore your personal vocabulary of expressive marks and lines to create a more exciting visual story

    Use color with confidence to bring emphasis, depth, and emotion to your sketches, and create a mood with harmony and contrast

    Practice the art of leaving something out and refine the way you compose your sketches by using line and color in a complementary way

  • download this document to learn more: THE DANCE OF LINE AND COLOR

  • Virginia Hein is an artist, author, and art instructor from Los Angeles, California.

    She counts herself lucky to have worked as an artist in one form or another throughout her life—as a concept and character designer for toys and entertainment, art director, illustrator, and teacher. She taught drawing to aspiring toy designers at Otis College of Art and Design for 13 years, and now focuses on teaching sketching workshops at Descanso Gardens and other locations, both locally and internationally. She has been an active member of the international community of Urban Sketchers since 2009, and has been honored to teach workshops at five international Urban Sketchers Symposiums. She has contributed her work to a number of books about location sketching. Her book “5 Minute Sketching Landscapes”, was published by RotoVision, in 2017, and she co-authored “The Urban Sketching Handbook Spotlight on Nature”, Quarry Books, 2022, with Gail L. Wong.

    Virginia considers drawing to be her first language, and continues to find drawing a path of discovery and joy.

  • There is limited accommodation available at Willow Pond House. Reservations will be managed on a first-come, first-served basis. Willow Pond House is a private residence and you will be hosted by Carol and Jean Paquet and an on-site chef. Select your workshop under the tab of the room of your choice and the number of nights is automatically calculated for the workshop duration. If you choose to stay on site, your reservation will include breakfast and dinner. This is a separate booking from the workshop and is accessible under the GUEST ROOMS menu tab on Willow Pond’s website.

    In addition, there are numerous AirBnB’s and VRBOs within a few miles of the property. We also recommend hotels in Pismo Beach and The Agrarian Hotel in Arroyo Grande. Both of these locations are less than a 10-minute drive.

KIPAIPAI RETREAT

2-day workshop with Kipaipai Faculty
June 14 - 16, 2024 with a social mixer on Friday, June 14

Limited to 16 participants.

FULLY BOOKED!

Kipaipai, meaning “to encourage and inspire,” is a special program that focuses on professional practices in areas of gallery representation and museum exhibitions, self-promotion, use of social media in promotion, the importance of relevant critical writing, presentation, and identifying and strategizing personal/professional goals. This workshop will help participants to immediately build their professional network through community and organic connections based on relationships and shared resources. Through the retreat’s private one-on-one sessions and group meetings, students will have the rare opportunity to meet with a team of guest professionals - primarily from the greater Los Angeles area and will include curators, gallerists, art critics, art writers, art dealers, social media experts in the arts and more.

  • 16 participants will be selected by a Jury of professionals for a two-day workshop focused on best professional practices in the creative industry. Accepted artists will be notified directly by Kipaipai. Artists are responsible for their own travel and housing expenses. The workshop will run Saturday June 14th and Sunday June 15th, 2024 from 9 am - 5 pm, with optional morning and evening activities at the Willow Pond SLO, including a wine tasting by a local winery on the Saturday evening at 5pm. Attendees are encouraged to meet at Willow Pond SLO on Friday, June 13, 2023, at 5 pm for a social mixer with appetizers. Applicants must have a working practice in the visual arts (curators welcome), speak English, and fill out the application completely, answering all questions and include images and an artist statement. To find out more about Kipaipai go to their website www.kipaipai.com

  • A block booking at a discounted rate will be made at a local hotel for attendees of the Kipaipai workshop. Accommodation at Willow Pond House is only available to Faculty.
    In addition, there are numerous AirBnB’s and VRBOs within a few miles of the property. We also recommend staying in Pismo Beach, less than a 10-minute drive away.

EXPERIMENTING WITH FIBER PROCESSES TO MAKE SCULPTURE

3-day workshop with Carol Shaw-Sutton
June 28 - 30, 2024

FULLY BOOKED!

In this three day workshop, we will be using natural and man-made fibrous materials in a variety of ways to construct wild voluminous forms.  Through a variety of strategies, we will create sturdy structures using human's earliest technologies, once vital for food gathering, fish and animal capture, housing, fencing, storage and body coverings.  Using these methods we will construct whimsically articulate forms.  These ways of making can be found throughout the world, while forming the basis of human's survival and allowing for the  early formation of communities. I believe this knowledge is embedded in our collective DNA, and we will tap into it. Together we will learn about materials, lashing, netting, wrapping, knotting, twining, coiling, weaving and dyeing all to give our individual forms a strong presence and vitality.  You will learn the basics with encouragement to explore, combine and develop a strong sense of grounding and fluidity as we practice and play together. 

  • Fiber is having a major renaissance and can be seen is most every contemporary art exhibition  worldwide because of it's ability to connect us to our collective and personal histories, the beauty and fragility of the natural world, diverse cultural identities, issues of time and labor, as well as the intrinsic beauty of the process.  My goal for this workshop is to empower you to work sculpturally with new tools, materials and ideas. Carol will supply 80% of the materials however you are encouraged to bring material that inspires you. You will need to bring your tools. Scissors, pliers, sicatuers, clippers, gloves, wire and twine.

    Carol Shaw-Sutton will send out a detailed materials list about 2 months before the class commences.

  • Carol Shaw-Sutton has been exhibiting her fiber sculpture in the U.S. and internationally since the 1970's to include the California Design Exhibitions in Pasadena, the Young American Award exhibition at Museum of Art and Design in NYC, three Lausanne Biennales in Switzerland at the Museo de Beaux Artes and the International Fiber exhibition at the Kyoto Museum of Art, Japan. Her work is included in numerous major museum collections including the Oakland Museum of Art, The DeYoung Museum, The Museum of Art and Design, among others, as well as corporate and private collections worldwide.  She received three NEA Individual Artist Fellowships, the prestigious Young American Award from the American Craft Council, the United States/Japan Grant, the United States/France Fellowship and many others, including Professor of the Year from her university. She is currently Professor Emeritus from the School of Art at CSULB where she headed their vibrant Fiber Program for more than thirty years.

    During her long career as a university professor starting at UCLA and then at CSULB, she has taught workshops around the U.S. where the topic of fiber’s role in world culture and experimental sculpture were the focus. In 2015 she curated the major “Fiberlicious” exhibition at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery in Barnsdall Park, as well as jurying the Textile Society of America’s contemporary fiber exhibition at Craft Contemporary in LA. In 2016 she curated “Earthly Delights” at Camarillo’s Studio Channel Islands, and “Tricksters and Transformation” at Helms Bakery Complex in Culver City in 2021 for Textile Arts Los Angeles’s, Textile Month. In 2017 she designed and fabricated the stage set for a production of MacBeth in Ojai, where she now lives.

    Her work often consists of poetically narrative objects and installations utilizing both ancient and modern fiber based processes requiring a labor-intensive time commitment with the goal of simultaneously valuing and transcending the concept of process.  These works address the deep concern for humanity, balance and transcendence of the body into the natural world.

  • There is limited accommodation available at Willow Pond House. Reservations will be managed on a first-come, first-served basis. Willow Pond House is a private residence and you will be hosted by Carol and Jean Paquet and an on-site chef. Select your workshop under the tab of the room of your choice and the number of nights is automatically calculated for the workshop duration. If you choose to stay on site, your reservation will include breakfast and dinner. This is a separate booking from the workshop and is accessible under the GUEST ROOMS menu tab on Willow Pond’s website.

    In addition, there are numerous AirBnB’s and VRBOs within a few miles of the property. We also recommend hotels in Pismo Beach and The Agrarian Hotel in Arroyo Grande. Both of these locations are less than a 10-minute drive.

VISUAL RECORD: art AS ARTIFACT

5 day workshop by Susan Stover and Lisa Pressman
September 9 - 13, 2024

Applications close July 9, 2024, or when maximum number of 12 attendees is reached.
$1,484.00 includes lunch daily

Art has always been a means by which people leave behind traces of their existence. Whether it's a cave painting from thousands of years ago or a modern masterpiece, art serves as an artifact that represents a specific time, place, and culture.This class explores the concept of art as artifact, and the visible traces, remnants and fragments of something left behind. Incorporated into this focus is the concept of time, of real or imagined histories, and of faded or foggy memories. The goal is to have you explore the nature of your own work, what interests you and what drives you to create.

  • One key aspect of art as artifact is its ability to convey a sense of time. We’ll look at calendars, seasons, and other ways that we record and associate time with. This can be done through imagery of clocks, phases of the moon, or timelines. A faded journal, peeling paint, rusted surfaces also suggest the passing of time. Another possibility of art as artifact is its ability to evoke memories and create narratives. Art can serve as a visual representation of personal experiences, memories, or emotions. It can also act as a medium for storytelling, allowing artists to create their own narratives or reinterpret existing ones. By exploring the concept of art as artifact, we can reflect on the stories, memories, and emotions that are embedded within the artwork and how they resonate with our own experiences.

    Some of the topics explored in the workshop:
    • Systems of organization, such as record-keeping, mapping or counting
    • Surfaces and textures that are worn and suggest a sense of age
    • Dualities or juxtapositions of ancient vs. contemporary
    • Conveying history or a sense of time in your work
    • Pentimento, leaving visible traces of your process
    • Personal or collective histories
    • Cultural artifacts - real or imagined

    By examining the materials, techniques, and the concept of art as artifact within our artwork, we can gain valuable insights into our own artistic development. Analyzing our own artwork can also help us identify patterns or changes in our creative journey, allowing us to track our growth and evolution over time. This class is open to artists at any level and the focus is on finding each individual’s unique voice.

  • SUSAN STOVER
    Susan Stover is an artist who creates works that explore personal and collective memory, and symbolic meanings tied to patterns, objects and places. Having studied many aesthetic traditions from around the world, she embraces ritual, tradition, and meditation inherent in repetitive processes.
    Susan received a MFA from California College of Art in Oakland, California and a BFA from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Her works are in many private and corporate collections. She is represented by Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, NY and Colibri Gallery in Morgan Hill, CA. Susan teaches workshops online, in person at other locations in the U.S., and internationally.

    LISA PRESSMAN
    Lisa Pressman’s artistic career is marked by exploration: testing the boundaries of the expressive potential latent in a variety of mediums, among them oil, encaustic, cold wax, and mixed-media collage. Her work is abstract, conceptually based, and process-driven. Lisa’s artworks feature marks, forms, colors and patterns that are evocative rather than overt.
    Raised by parents working across creative mediums, Lisa grew up surrounded by building materials and immersed in multiple forms of cultural expression that nurtured her curiosity and aesthetic sensibility from a young age. A trip to Israel at age 12 revealed new worlds filled with an eclectic range of visual imagery, textures and colors that brought new possibilities to this young artist’s practice, bringing with it a visual acuity which served as the defining moment when she realized she was going to become an artist.
    Lisa received her BA, Fine Art from Douglass College from Rutgers University, with an emphasis in ceramics and sculpture. As a graduate student she changed her emphasis from sculpture to painting, receiving her MFA in Painting from Bard College.  Since then she has exhibited regionally and nationally in solo and group exhibitions at spaces such as the Cape Cod Museum of Art,(Dennis MA) The Holter Museum of Art (Helena, MT,) and Hunterdon Art Museum (Clinton,NJ ) and her work is held in numerous private and public collections. Her work is represented by Susan Eley Fine Arts (New York, NY,) Addington Gallery (Chicago, IL) and Slate Gallery  (Telluride, Colorado.) The artist has a solo exhibition in New York City at Susan Eley Fine Art in NYC, December 2022.
    A highly respected arts educator, Lisa maintains a vigorous teaching program. She worked on the faculty of the former Art Institute of NY, and served as a visiting professor at Pratt Institute and other universities. She has taught workshops in France, Mexico, Italy and the US. Lisa is renowned for her knowledge of encaustic, cold wax processes, concept based courses, and she presents annually at the International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, MA. She is a core instructor for R&F Handmade Paints. As a mentor, she facilitates each artist’s voice during individual sessions to grasp the source of what these artists are seeking to capture in their artistic vision.

  • There is limited accommodation available at Willow Pond House. Reservations will be managed on a first-come, first-served basis. Willow Pond House is a private residence and you will be hosted by Carol and Jean Paquet and an on-site chef. Select your workshop under the tab of the room of your choice and the number of nights is automatically calculated for the workshop duration. If you choose to stay on site, your reservation will include breakfast and dinner. This is a separate booking from the workshop and is accessible under the GUEST ROOMS menu tab on Willow Pond’s website.

    In addition, there are numerous AirBnB’s and VRBOs within a few miles of the property. We also recommend hotels in Pismo Beach and The Agrarian Hotel in Arroyo Grande. Both of these locations are less than a 10-minute drive.

WELCOME TO ART SCHOOL

2 day workshop with Vanessa Rothe
September 28 - 29, 2024

Applications close August 1, 2024, or when maximum number of 12 attendees is reached.
$724.00 includes lunch daily

Featuring Classical fine art training for beginning and intermediate students. Still life with drawing in charcoal and painting in gouache, acrylic, or oil. Work in the medium of your choice!

Have you always wanted to go to art school? Now you can! 
We look forward to welcoming you to this exciting fundamental 2-day workshop. Join us for a highly productive but fun weekend of art school. This exciting workshop will immerse you and a small group of 10 students in an atelier art studio setting. If you did not get a chance to attend art school, or even if you did, learning and reviewing these important skills will be incredibly helpful for your life as an artist.

  • In this workshop Vanessa will guide you thru the main concepts of art that you would learn in any of the fundamental classes in art school, great for beginners. For intermediate artists this is also a very useful and fun class, reviewing and improving your skills in a supportive environment and then taking it to the next step with Vanessa’s one on one guidance. If you missed anything in your artist journey we will make sure you learn and have the technical skills now!

    Knowing and applying the core fundamentals of art is essential for creating a successful work of art and therefore building a successful art career.You will learn how to construct still life items from basic shapes such as circles, squares and cylinders. You will progress to more complex items and add more details with line working first in charcoal on newsprint, we will give you some solid foundation drawing skills for still life. Next we will learn about values, the subtle changes from darkness to lightness that help give things volume and look 3 dimensional. We will work with Gouache paint on paper and focus on values changes first in black and white. We will end with basic color theory and mixing, and learn about color harmony, complimentary colors and paint a few still life items in color. This is all designed to give you the core fundamentals you need!

    Instructor, artist, editor/writer, curator, lecturer, and art dealer Vanessa Françoise Rothe was classically trained in fine art at Laguna College of Art and Design and has been a graphic designer, and professional working artist, exhibiting in top galleries and museums worldwide. See full bio below or visit her site at vanessarothefineart.com

  • Day 1

    First we will be using charcoal on newsprint then gouache (Oils ok for intermediate artists. If they already are intermediate and paint in oils, those students can then use oils, but must bring their own oils and substrates.) Vanessa will do multiple short demo’s drawing at her easel, after which the artists will attempt the same drawing right away. Using a centerline, combing basic shapes to make objects, the concept of “ drawing through”, seeing planes etc. Hand outs will be given, or downloaded to their phones.

    LINE First creating basic circles and straight lines and quickly turning them into well proportioned line drawings of still life items. Students will draw cups, plates, and organic round and odd shape fruits for basics to start. Emphasis is on training the hand to draw correctly and understanding what they see. Rothe will give drawing tips and tricks, … key shortcuts that only artists know!

    VALUE We then review value and shading. Rendering to create volume. Starting ONLY in black and white at first. This is done with charcoal on newsprint. Students will be taught to read value in greyscale, with charts. value ideas and how to shade. Important focus given to SEEING light and shadow on the objects and adding core, cast shadows as well as light and mid tones. VIP!

    PAINTING- We will begin to paint in black and white only the first day. Creating our own greyscale value chart that we can each use to refer back to as well move forward. Keep this value chart in your studio and use as you progress.

    Day 2

    Painting with COLOR! More discussions on rendering to create volume, and we will learn the basics of color mixing. Using 3 basic colors red, yellow and blue, plus our black and white we will learn to mix secondary colors and how to tint and shade those colors to create clever value puddles in color.

    We will learn the importance of this PRE mixing 3-4 values and paint sill life items with color. Later we will discuss Warms and cools, complimentary colors etc. This day will include larger still life items and various sizes.

    A few composition concepts will also be covered as well at the end of the day. Such as grouping the rule of thirds, varying depth and size. How to light your still life and set up different size objects.

    The instructor will supply charcoal, gum erasers, newsprint, 2 paint brushes each, gouache paints and individual plastics pallets and high quality watercolor paper.

    Oil painters must bring their own materials.

  • Once a successful Art Director/Graphic Designer working with Disney Press, Walter Foster and Sony, Vanessa Françoise Rothe has turned to a more traditional color palette for the past 23 years, as a professional editor/writer, curator, art dealer, lecturer and fine artist. She has owned and operated Vanessa Rothe Fine Art at 418 Ocean Avenue in Laguna Beach California for the past 12 years, showcasing her work as well as many of the top international artists in contemporary realism and impressionism, both in her gallery and in collaborations with celebrated galleries and museums worldwide. Rothe currently lectures, writes editorial, paints, offers workshops and demo's and curates innovative large scale exhibitions, and continues to make her mark in the world of art.

    Rothe was born in Hollywood and grew up in the artists’ colony of Laguna Beach, California, the daughter to a fashion designer father and linguist mother. She first studied Business Marketing and French literature at the University of San Diego, and UC Irvine, graduating with top honors. She then received a scholarship for her classical art education at the Laguna College of Art and Design, achieving Dean’s list honors once again. She then started her fine art career with three successful solo exhibitions at Wendt Gallery in Laguna Beach in 2002,2003,2004 and was included in the Richard Schmid Fine Art Auctions. She was later included in an exhibition and listed among the ”Artists for a New Century” at the Bennington Center for the Arts in 2012 which further helped her make her mark. Her work has since been included in important exhibitions at top galleries and museums including: Arcadia Contemporary NYC, Abend Gallery, The Richard Schmid Fine Art Auctions, Galerie Prince d “lOeil, Paris, Galerie DDG in Paris,The Salmagundi Club, J.WIllott Gallery and Coda Gallery Palm Desert, The Laguna Art Museum, Paul Scott Gallery, AZ, The American Impressionist Society Annual Exhibitions, The Bowers Museum, the California Museum of Fine Art etc. Rothe's fine art work now appears in the permanent collection at the Hilbert Museum of California Art. Vanessa is a member of the American Friends of the Musée D’Orsay, a Signature member of the American Impressionist Society and served as its Educational Director for 4 years, an Artist member of the renown Salamagundi Club NY, and artist member of Oil Painters of America.

    Owner VRFA Gallery

    Curator, Editor, Lecturer, Artist

    Contributing Editor for American Art Collector + American Fine Art Magazines

    Monthly Columnist for International Artist Magazine

    Art History Lecturer Hilbert Museum CA

    Artist Member + PR Committee Salmagundi Club NYC

    Signature Artist and 4 year Educational Director American Impressionist Society 2014-2018.

    Published Author of “An Art School Approach to Oils” beginner book with Walter Foster Publishing

    Founder Americans in Paris, Fine Art and Fashion and Realism Without Borders Exhibitions and Events

    West Coast Editor Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine 2002-2018

  • There is limited accommodation available at Willow Pond House. Reservations will be managed on a first-come, first-served basis. Willow Pond House is a private residence and you will be hosted by Carol and Jean Paquet and an on-site chef. Select your workshop under the tab of the room of your choice and the number of nights is automatically calculated for the workshop duration. If you choose to stay on site, your reservation will include breakfast and dinner. This is a separate booking from the workshop and is accessible under the GUEST ROOMS menu tab on Willow Pond’s website.

    In addition, there are numerous AirBnB’s and VRBOs within a few miles of the property. We also recommend hotels in Pismo Beach and The Agrarian Hotel in Arroyo Grande. Both of these locations are less than a 10-minute drive.

TRANSCENDING
THE PHOTO REFERENCE
IN PAINT

4 day workshop with Alyssa Monks
October 11-14, 2024

Applications close August 11, 2024, or when maximum number of 12 attendees is reached.
$1,447.00 includes lunch daily

This workshop is designed to guide the students toward creating a painting from a photo reference, using both indirect and direct traditional painting techniques. It aims to instruct painters on how to use the photograph to create a painting that surpasses the look of the photograph, not simply imitates a photograph. The workshop will explain how to create a useful photo reference, covering topics such as ideal lighting, camera settings, lenses, Photoshop, and printing. 

  • The process will begin with preparations such as choosing a composition through quick sketches from a variety of reference photos, progressive oil sketches with limited use of the photograph, and then laying in the composition with an imprimatura wash. When that is dry, the students will learn to create color relationships that portray the space and volume, creating the illusion. Emphasis is then placed on paint application and ways of activating the surface. By focusing on deliberate brush stroke and maintaining accurate color relationships rather than rendering, the application of paint to describes the form. We will accentuate the structural volumes of the form over the contour, concentrating on relating all parts of the picture to each other with an organized palette. From there, students will be guided towards deciding what information is useful to look for and what usual pitfalls to avoid when interpreting a photograph. Deciding when and how to invent and experiment is perhaps the most crucial part of the process. Students will be encouraged to look more at the painting itself than the photographic source, using it only for initial reference.

    We will explore ways of seeing the picture objectively, how to imply detail without overstating, and what level of finish works best for the particular painting or style. The painting will develop through indirect layers of opaque and transparent painting to achieve the delicate nuances of flesh and other surfaces. Methods of Glazing and Scumbling will be discussed. The final result can be a painting that captures the essence of your subject (and your connection with that subject) and contains the intimacy of the human touch that transcends a smooth photo-realistic image. There are a variety of results varying from abstraction/improvisation to a more illusionistic representation. All will be discussed and the challenges and rewards of each will be explored.

  • Born 1977 in New Jersey, Alyssa began oil painting as a child. She studied at The New School in New York and earned her B.A. from Boston College in 1999. During this time she studied painting at Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence. She went on to earn her M.F.A. from the New York Academy of Art in 2001. She completed an artist in residency at Fullerton College in 2006 and has lectured and taught at universities and institutions worldwide. She continues to offer workshops and mentorships and lectures regularly. Alyssa has been awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for Painting three times and serves on the New York Academy of Art’s Board of Trustees. She is represented by Forum Gallery in New York City. Alyssa currently lives and paints in Brooklyn, New York.

  • There is limited accommodation available at Willow Pond House. Reservations will be managed on a first-come, first-served basis. Willow Pond House is a private residence and you will be hosted by Carol and Jean Paquet and an on-site chef. Select your workshop under the tab of the room of your choice and the number of nights is automatically calculated for the workshop duration. If you choose to stay on site, your reservation will include breakfast and dinner. This is a separate booking from the workshop and is accessible under the GUEST ROOMS menu tab on Willow Pond’s website.

    In addition, there are numerous AirBnB’s and VRBOs within a few miles of the property. We also recommend hotels in Pismo Beach and The Agrarian Hotel in Arroyo Grande. Both of these locations are less than a 10-minute drive.

THE EXPRESSIVE FIGURE 

4 day workshop with David Limrite
October 24-27, 2024

Applications close August 24, 2024, or when maximum number of 12 attendees is reached.
$1,015.00 includes lunch daily

The figure has long held a fascination as a subject matter worthy of depiction for generations of artist. The figure has the ability to inspire within us a very basic awe and wonder. The figure is full of possibilities for artists. This class is about Experimentation and Innovation.
In this workshop, students will be challenged to look for what could be, instead of seeing what is. We will embark on a journey filled with exploration and discovery as we search for the magical balance between the two. The search will continue in order to find the right line, tone, smudge, color, texture and shape, resulting in a collection of marks that reveal and celebrate the process. Our working surfaces will be considered arenas of struggle where desire, chance, skill, ideas, media and surface will all be engaged in this process.

  • Our goal will be to strike a balance between structure and accident, restraint and recklessness and being deliberate as well as relying on our instincts. Students will be asked to remain open to their mixed media drawings and paintings being about something they did not expect and about taking them places where they did not expect to go.

    This workshop will approach mixed media figure drawing and painting as a creative, expressive activity. Students will respond to the model and to the manipulation of their chosen materials in order to arrive at dynamic and unique solutions. Be prepared to exaggerate, distort, twist and elongate the figure in order to create dynamic, powerful, bold, expressive and emotional pieces of art. There will be plenty of demonstrations, critiques, and both individual and group instruction. If you are looking for a fresh perspective for your creativity, an energy boost for you and your work, or if you are just looking for a different workshop experience, then this workshop is for you.

  • David Limrite was born in Salinas, California. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from San Diego State University. Yet, feeling as though had not placed enough emphasis on the techniques of drawing, he entered Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Through his studies there, he acquired and developed the essence of his figurative work.

    Limrite’s stylistic abilities and conceptual attributes were actuated by his position as Art Director in the Editorial Department at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. He began to understand the strong contrasts inherent in black and white photography as well as the dramatic impact of the tragic pictorial imagery he constantly encountered during his time at the newspaper. He eventually applied these characteristics to his own emotional and dramatic mixed media work.

    Limrite’s current work continues an investigation of the struggle for understanding and ultimate acceptance of complex emotional issues. Using primarily graphite, charcoal, acrylic and collage, his work combines virtuoso drawing with cathartic expressionism. Limrite uses emotional content to give his figures power and intensity, underscoring their emotion through passionate handling of materials which animates the figures and suggests energy between the forms.

    David Limrite’s studio and home are in Atascadero, California, on the central coast. He taught drawing and painting at Art Center College of Design for 12 years and at the Brentwood Art Center for 23 years where he was also the Director of Education for 7 years.

    In addition to being a full-time artist, David currently teaches workshops in Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo and Palm Springs, is an Artists Coach and Mentor, conducts private one-on-one critiques and authors his “Create Like You Mean It” weekly blog. He recently published his first book, CREATE ANYWAY - Become An Empowered Artist and Create with Confidence.

  • There is limited accommodation available at Willow Pond House. Reservations will be managed on a first-come, first-served basis. Willow Pond House is a private residence and you will be hosted by Carol and Jean Paquet and an on-site chef. Select your workshop under the tab of the room of your choice and the number of nights is automatically calculated for the workshop duration. If you choose to stay on site, your reservation will include breakfast and dinner. This is a separate booking from the workshop and is accessible under the GUEST ROOMS menu tab on Willow Pond’s website.

    In addition, there are numerous AirBnB’s and VRBOs within a few miles of the property. We also recommend hotels in Pismo Beach and The Agrarian Hotel in Arroyo Grande. Both of these locations are less than a 10-minute drive.