These two carefully guided, immersive days in the studio will focus on nurturing perceptual discrimination and clarifying observation, asking questions about not what we see, but more importantly, how we see, within the experience of visual encounter. Working both the from the model and from reproductions (including older and 20th century masters,) we’ll paint our way through a sequence of playful visual exercises and explorations, to understand that abstraction – composition/design with color and shape – is THE foundation, the great engine behind all painting.
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Stuart Shils
Cost: $395
Sponsor: Cerulean Arts Gallery and Studio
Website, email, 267-514-8647

Unlocking Composition is a two-day immersive workshop that helps artists create stronger, more visually engaging paintings by putting theory into practice. Working from their own photos, participants will learn to break down complex scenes into simplified shapes and values. They’ll learn how to make and use focal areas that guide the viewer’s eye. On the second day, we’ll delve into understanding balance and unity to create harmony in a painting. Through lectures, demonstrations, and one-on-one- instruction, artists will learn the tools Mark uses to analyze and design a painting. By the end, artists will have practical tools and strategies to approach composition confidently and apply key principles to their own work, helping their paintings feel more cohesive and engaging.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Mark Vander Vinne
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Geometry has been a source of interest, beauty and creative inspiration for the artist through the ages. Geometric forms, lines and shapes are all around us and can be seen in everything from architecture to plant life to seashells. Learn non-mathematical strategies inspired by geometry designed to enhance your ongoing body of work or be the starting point for a new one with focus on simplifying subject matter, building a unified composition and creating or enhancing a color palette. Work in the medium of your choice: acrylic, gouache or watercolor while working from your own reference photographs, drawings, books or digital imagery. Designed for both beginners and experienced art makers.
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Michael Smith
Cost: $175
Sponsor: Cerulean Arts Gallery & Studio
Website, email, 267-514-8647

Unity ties a painting together—think matching colors, similar brushstrokes, and overall vibe. Rhythm keeps things lively by guiding your eye with repeated shapes, lines, and energetic brushstrokes and marks. When both qualities interact, something remarkable happens: the painting becomes a seamless blend of order and vitality and true beauty emerges. This workshop is all about Unity and Rhythm, and we'll keep things hands-on with some basic techniques you can actually use. Students are encouraged to paint what they love. You can bring objects from home to build your own still life arrangements or bring photo references you like. I will provide a still life arrangement. All skill levels welcome. Work in oil, acrylic, or gouache.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Fred Jackson
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

This class offers a combination of instruction and open studio practice allowing students to explore, take chances, develop critical thinking, and cultivate their artistic voices. Participants investigate basic color theory, learn how to create strong compositions, and develop technical skills. The choice of medium is up to each individual. Supportive individual and group critiques, specific assignments and demonstrations will encourage students to pursue their personal styles and growth.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Val Rossman
Cost: $300
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

This workshop will provide an opportunity for those interested in the palette knife and other alternative painting tools to broaden horizons and creative skills. While all mediums are invited, the workshop is particularly geared to those working in oils or acrylics. The format, while reinforcing the basic skills needed for the creation of well-balanced colorful images, is individualized to accommodate a wide variety of experience levels as well as styles of painting; and from those interested in representational to abstract imagery. This is the perfect workshop for those wishing to introduce new tools to their repertoire, better master color usage, and gain a range of techniques for applying paint.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Cynthia Rosen
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Capture the small-town beauty Manayunk's hilly streets, rowhomes, and storefronts. Learn to create a convincing sense of space, light and time of day while depicting streetscapes, trees, water and sky. Color mixing and painting techniques for oils will be demonstrated, but all drawing/painting media are welcome. Located just 15 minutes outside of Philadelphia, Manayunk offers engaging urban and riverside neighborhood subjects with parking, shade, provisions and facilities available. Note: Students are responsible for their own transportation to painting locations.
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Larry Francis
Cost: $295
Sponsor: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Website, email, 215-972-7632

This workshop focuses on discovering your unique abstract voice. Through a series of small paintings created on the first day, you'll begin to recognize the development of your authentic expression and how it distinguishes you from other artists. These initial works may also reveal insights into how adjusting your approach to using visual language can more powerfully express your abstract voice. The second day features group discussion exploring how artistic inspiration shapes color and composition differently for each artist, followed by individual consultations on integrating the workshop's insights into your personal practice. This workshop is for artists with some painting experience and artists with a lot of painting experience.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Marianne Mitchell
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Take your work to the next level under the mentoring guidance of artist/critic Kassem Amoudi. In this live focused open studio environment, all levels of students will discover how to enhance their own visual language and interests exploring new ways of painting. Expert instruction and advice from the instructor will push students to explore new possibilities and work more intuitively, allowing unplanned marks and passages to become artistic breakthroughs. Examples from contemporary and modern art will be examined to promote a broader understanding of the abstract qualities of space, line and color. Advance beyond confined lines and hard edges to a more liberated way of painting. It does not matter What you paint. It is the How you paint it.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Whether it is portrait, still life, landscape or abstracts, the presence of light against shadow gives the subject form and dimension. Bring your own inspiration to class and with this principle in mind, watch your paintings come to life! Composition and color mixing will be a focus in this class. All mediums and skill levels are welcome!
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Stefanie Lieberman
Cost: $250
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

This 12-week course invites students into the exciting world of abstract mixed media art. Guided by artist and educator Birgit Raders-Eichinger, students will explore a wide range of materials, techniques, tools and compositional strategies to create richly layered artwork. Topics include mark-making, texture, layering, contrast, intuitive composition, adding and subtracting, similar but different, balance, and focal points. The course encourages experimentation with tools like brushes, palette knives, color shapers, and unconventional materials. Participants will develop and refine at least one (or more) large cohesive abstract collage artwork, while also creating smaller exploratory pieces throughout the course as part of learning new techniques and materials. Students will be encouraged to take risks, trust their intuition, and enjoy the process of discovery.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Birgit Raders-Eichinger
Cost: $350
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Whether it is portrait, still life, landscape or abstracts, the presence of light against shadow gives the subject form and dimension. Bring your own inspiration to class and with this principle in mind, watch your paintings come to life! Composition and color mixing will be a focus in this class. All mediums and skill levels are welcome!
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Stefanie Lieberman
Cost: $300
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Bring your current work to develop each week. The instructor will help you strengthen your existing approach and refine your paintings. All subject matter and mediums are welcome (instructor works in oil). We will explore ways to move beyond blending and over-polishing toward a more semi-abstract direction. With a focus on shape, color, and composition, your work can become more powerful as forms are distilled and the underlying painted structure emerges. *Please note this is a semi-abstract class, we will work with representation.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Claudia Rilling
Cost: $260
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Bring your own flowers and a small vase and learn how to set them up for a successful painting. We will explore shapes, lighting, and form, focusing on how they work together in a composition. Through a more gestural approach, you’ll learn how to suggest form and capture the essence of flowers without rendering small details. Medium: All (instructor works in oil).
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Claudia Rilling
Cost: $260
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Water-based paints such as watercolor, gouache, and fluid acrylics are the perfect mediums for landscape painting in the open air! Work in your choice of these portable, fast-drying, and easy-to-clean-up alternatives to oils as you portray the beauty of spring in Philadelphia’s parks in your own personal style. Learn how to choose a composition and mix color for depth and expressive effects as you complete a series of rapid sketches and at least one sustained painting. Explore techniques for achieving transparency effects with stained gesso, working fat over lean, and rendering with ink over washes. Open to all levels. Painting locations feature shade, restrooms, and other amenities. Note: Students are responsible for their own transportation to painting locations.
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Michelle Oosterbaan
Cost: $260
Sponsor: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Website, email, 215-972-7632

Using your own inspiration e.g., photos, tablets, still life objects etc., you will learn different techniques to give your paintings life and energy. Composition, value, color mixing and technique will be the main focuses of this class. All mediums are welcome! All mediums and skill levels are welcome!
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Stefanie Lieberman
Cost: $350
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

In this guided acrylic class, students will all paint the same image using a photo reference while following a step-by-step demonstration by the instructor. Throughout the session, students will explore a variety of subjects. From serene landscapes to vibrant still lifes and intriguing textures, each painting process will help build skills and confidence with every brushstroke. Perfect for beginners or anyone looking to refine their technique in a relaxed, supportive atmosphere.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Nicole Lee
Cost: $290
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

This course is designed to create paintings that we will build from a loose, underpainting and refine as we go along. This class is ideal for those painters who want to break out of the habit of focusing in on details and let the paint create a more expressive piece. Attention will be paid to composition, color mixing, paint application and technique. All skill levels welcome in a fun and relaxing atmosphere!
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Stefanie Lieberman
Cost: $350
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Uncovering the connection between your identity and your artwork can be both liberating and inspiring. In this class, we will explore methods designed to help you discover and develop your unique aesthetic and artistic voice. Our focus will be on paint handling, color selection, and composition. You will learn to manage your palette, make intentional color choices, and understand their impact on your work. Play will be encouraged! Music will serve as our muse, providing inspiration as you select your subject matter with guided support. This journey encourages mindfulness and self-discovery, and connects us more deeply with the world around us and ourselves. All skill levels are welcome and valued in this class.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Heidi Techner
Cost: $350
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Discover the joy of painting with the natural world as inspiration. In this gentle, exploratory class, students of all levels are invited to slow down, observe, and draw inspiration from the colors, textures, and rhythms of nature. Using flowers, trees, landscapes, and seasonal changes as starting points, we’ll experiment with playful techniques and creative prompts that spark imagination and personal expression. Rather than striving for perfect results, this course celebrates process over product...finding peace, presence, and delight in the act of painting itself. Along the way, you’ll cultivate a deeper connection to both nature and your own creativity. No prior painting experience is needed—just curiosity, openness, and a willingness to explore.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Heidi Techner
Cost: $350
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

This one-day workshop will concentrate on painting one of the most beautiful and challenging aspects of a tree: its trunk and branches. Trunks are rarely perfectly round; instead, their surfaces present a combination of flat planes and rounded forms that interlock together and describe the tree's surface. The pattern of its branches, roots and rippling bark tell each tree’s life story and are influenced by interaction with other trees, the sun, and the earth. Our goal in this class is to simplify the tree's structure and capture its essence as effectively as possible. Rather than aiming for finished paintings, we will create several small studies focusing on the topography of different trunks and how we can communicate them using paint.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Claire Haik
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Working from still life set-ups, learn the various techniques of aqueous media used for creating light, structure, texture, transparency and opacity. While the focus of the class is water-based acrylics, students are welcome to work in pastels or oil if they prefer. Instructor demonstrations and group discussion, as well as individual attention, provided during each class session.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Joeseph Sweeney
Cost: $250
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Join veteran plein air artist Joe Sweeney for a unique opportunity to paint inside one of the oldest rowing clubs in Philadelphia: the Bachelors Barge Club on Boathouse Row. Work from picturesque views of the Schuylkill River with the benefit of full access to the historic building with access to the dock, rain-/sun-sheltered porch, and amenities including restrooms. Experienced guidance will cover tactics for working efficiently outdoors, selecting a composition, color mixing, and capturing time of day and atmospheric effects. Instruction and demonstrations will be geared toward acrylic, oil, and pastel painting, but experienced watercolorists are welcome to participate. Note: Students are responsible for their own transportation to painting locations.
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Joseph Sweeney
Cost: $195
Sponsor: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Website, email, 215-972-7632

Working from a limited palette, this one-day workshop focuses on ways to create expressive florals on a larger canvas exploring energetic brushstrokes to create a harmonious and vibrant garden scene of flowers. Students will work from their own or provided imagery. Examples of colorful works by Josef Klimt and Joan Mitchell will be shared to inspire your process. A short demo will be shared on color mixing and simplification of form.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Abby Ober
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Exploring abstracts on a larger scale in the medium of your choosing, this 5-day class will push you into new territory where growth lives… only upsized, because bigger risks equal bigger rewards. You will be shown a system for developing your artistic voice, with a focus on design principles and the language of abstraction. The emphasis is on creative process, exploring new ways to develop and build paintings, create inventive compositions, and build authentic intent in your work. The class is as much a challenge for the experienced as it is for the developing artist, but it’s not for the rank beginner. Bring a sense of humor, a fearless creative spirit, and an open mind.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Larry Moore
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553