Past Workshops

Impressionism is one the most beloved styles of painting. It’s playful, passionate, and just plain fun! This one-day session is a deep dive into this popular and rewarding approach to painting.

This one-shot class is for everyone — from beginners who want help getting started, to experienced artists looking to refine their work. Impressionism offers great lessons in composition and color theory. And we will explore key issues of painting and art-making, including brushwork technique, perspective and depth, style, and storytelling — with an emphasis on fun.

You can use acrylics, oils, watercolors, pastels — whatever you like. Toaa will have lots of interesting images for you to choose from, and you can also bring pictures of your own to paint.

Toaa will demonstrate and explain methods and techniques for the group, and everyone will also receive individual attention and guidance.

Meet the Instructor:

Toaa Dallo has offered classes and intensive workshops at his Santa Cruz Art Studios since 1994 and has also given numerous lectures and demonstrations for art clubs and organizations. In 2012 he began teaching classes and all-day workshops at Palace Art in Capitola, where he has worked with thousands of students of all ages, interests, and needs. Toaa’s work is included in many private and corporate collections and has been seen in art shows and galleries principally in the San Francisco Bay Area.

• short and easy practice exercises for drawing urban subjects.
• 22 tips on how to draw or paint in comfort in a public place
• ways to add watercolor to your line drawings
• how to draw quickly and easily with confidence
• how to include people, trees and other outdoor things.
• simple and impressive drawing techniques, including hatching and shading
• how to use pen with watercolor
• some simple perspective tips and much more

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Meet the Instructor:

Robert Regis Dvorák, has been making drawing and watercolor painting fun and easy to learn for 35 or more years. He is an artist and popular speaker on subjects of creativity in business and education, He has authored six books on drawing and watercolor painting:  Travel Drawing and Painting, Drawing Without Fear, The Magic of Drawing, Experiential Drawing, The Practice of Drawing As Meditation, and The Pocket Drawing Book. His latest book is The Book About Nothing, a delightful book of verses and drawings.

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Water is one of the most wonderful things to paint, with a fantastic variety of effects and colors. This fun one-day painting session is a deep dive into this popular subject for art.

This class is for everyone — from beginners who want help getting started, to experienced artists looking to refine their skills. Water scenes are a great lesson in perspective, light source, color theory, value and contrast. We will explore key issues of painting and art-making, including composition, brushwork, style, and storytelling — with an emphasis on fun.

You can use acrylics, oils, watercolors, pastels — whatever you like. Toaa will have lots of interesting waterscapes for you to choose from, or you can bring your own.

Toaa will demonstrate and explain methods and techniques for the group, and everyone will receive individual attention and guidance also.

Meet the Instructor:

Toaa Dallo has offered classes and intensive workshops at his Santa Cruz Art Studios since 1994 and has also given numerous lectures and demonstrations for art clubs and organizations. In 2012 he began teaching classes and all-day workshops at Palace Art in Capitola, where he has worked with thousands of students of all ages, interests, and needs. Toaa’s work is included in many private and corporate collections and has been seen in art shows and galleries principally in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This fun one-day painting session is for everyone. Beginners are welcome, and more advanced painters will increase their skills. You can use acrylics, oils, watercolors, pastels — whatever you like. Toaa will provide several great Cloudcapes for you to choose from, or you can bring your own.

Cloud scenes are a great lesson in color theory, composition, and brushwork. We will explore key issues of painting and art-making, including value and contrast, volume and light source, style and storytelling — with an emphasis on fun.

Toaa will be painting along with the group, demonstrating and explaining methods and techniques. And everyone will receive individual attention and guidance also. Students will focus on one or two paintings, and everyone will be invited to share their work with the group, for friendly feedback.

Meet the Instructor:

Toaa Dallo has offered classes and intensive workshops at his Santa Cruz Art Studios since 1994 and has also given numerous lectures and demonstrations for art clubs and organizations. In 2012 he began teaching classes and all-day workshops at Palace Art in Capitola, where he has worked with thousands of students of all ages, interests, and needs. Toaa’s work is included in many private and corporate collections and has been seen in art shows and galleries principally in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This fun one-day painting session is for everyone! Beginners are welcome, and more advanced painters will increase their skills. You can use acrylics, oils, watercolors, pastels — whatever you like. Toaa will provide several great Seascapes for you to choose from, or you can bring your own.

Seascapes are a great lesson in color theory, temperature, value, and contrast. We will explore key issues of painting and art-making, including composition, brushwork, style, and storytelling — with an emphasis on fun.

Toaa will be painting along with the group, demonstrating and explaining methods and techniques. And everyone will receive individual attention and guidance also. Students will focus on one or two paintings, and everyone will be invited to share their work with the group, for friendly feedback.

Meet the Instructor:

Toaa Dallo has offered classes and intensive workshops at his Santa Cruz Art Studios since 1994 and has also given numerous lectures and demonstrations for art clubs and organizations. In 2012 he began teaching classes and all-day workshops at Palace Art in Capitola, where he has worked with thousands of students of all ages, interests, and needs. Toaa’s work is included in many private and corporate collections and has been seen in art shows and galleries principally in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Painting en plein-air has about it a freshness, an opportunity for spontaneity that is like nothing else. The essence of plein-air painting is to find what captivates you, edit out the superfluous, and capture your vision quickly and with confidence.

The workshop will focus on simplification of shapes, discovering and maintaining focal points, and coordination of values, temperatures, textures, and color. You will learn how to identify what is important in the scene, lay out the image on the canvas, undercoat the canvas for clarity and interest, and paint a fresh, loose painting. We will strive to understand and practice these concepts on canvas rather than create “perfect” paintings.

Meet the Instructor:

Christine Crozier’s oil paintings are noted for their confident, expressionist brushwork, and rich color. Collectors in the US, Canada, Europe, and South Pacific have sought her award-winning landscapes, figurative works, and portraits.

“I look for the extraordinary in a seemingly, ordinary moment. I invite my viewers to share in the magic and majesty of small, quiet moments.”

Crozier has taught art workshops in the Monterey and San Francisco Bay Areas, at Monterey Peninsula College, and in the Fiji Islands. Her current work can be seen at the Carmel Art Association where she has served on the board and as board president. She is a founding member and past-president of the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters Association.

This fun one-day painting session is for everyone. Beginners are welcome, and more advanced painters will increase their skills. You can use acrylics, oils, watercolors, pastels — whatever you like. Toaa will provide lots of great mountain landscapes and scenes with rock formations for you to choose from, or you can bring your own.

Mountains and rocks are a great lesson in brushwork and technique, perspective, light source, value and contrast. We will explore key issues of painting and art-making, including composition, color theory, style, and storytelling — with an emphasis on fun.

Toaa will be painting along with the group, demonstrating and explaining methods and techniques. And everyone will receive individual attention and guidance also. Students will focus on one or two paintings, and everyone will be invited to share their work with the group, for friendly feedback.

Meet the Instructor:

Toaa Dallo has offered classes and intensive workshops at his Santa Cruz Art Studios since 1994 and has also given numerous lectures and demonstrations for art clubs and organizations. In 2012 he began teaching classes and all-day workshops at Palace Art in Capitola, where he has worked with thousands of students of all ages, interests, and needs. Toaa’s work is included in many private and corporate collections and has been seen in art shows and galleries principally in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In celebration of our 92nd Statewide California Landscape Exhibition, join us on a creative expedition through the Pogonip Trail in Santa Cruz!

Through this workshop, we will be exploring one of the many beautiful trails that Santa Cruz offers and learn how to translate our observations into sketches and notes. Join Science illustrator, Samantha “Sami” Chang, in bringing nature to life in your own work!

You will learn:

• How to draw with better accuracy and precision
• How to use quick field sketching techniques
• How to incorporate various layouts to fit your field sketchbooks

Itinerary:

We will first meet at Art League for some treats and a look at the Landscape show. Then, we’ll head over to the entrance of the Pogonip Trail (Precise location TBA). Our group will follow the trail, stopping along the way to see and sketch our surroundings. You will receive some field guides to help you practice observational sketching. You will end the day with a page(s) in your sketchbook full of drawings and notes commemorating your journey: You will have gained a skill that will follow you wherever you go!

Meet the Instructor:

Samantha (Sami) Chang is a proud East Bay Area Native. Growing up, she explored her jungle of a backyard, sketchbook and pens always in hand, and drew everything she saw. Though art was one of her first loves, she became passionate about marine sciences when she was 12 years old. This passion drove her to pursuing a Marine Science degree from California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and allowed her to focus her studies on a large range of marine organisms, from the Humpback whales that visit the bay during the summer months to feed on schools of sardines to the black abalone that hide deep within the rocky crevices of the intertidal to avoid being eaten by sea otters. Combining her love of art and science, she went on to gain her graduate certification in Science Illustration at CSUMB in hopes of educating large audiences on various marine organisms and ecological processes as well as how they are impacted by human interactions.

If you would like to see more of her work, please visit https://www.schangstudios.com/.

This fun one-day painting session is for everyone. Beginners are welcome, and more advanced painters will increase their skills. You can use acrylics, oils, watercolors, pastels — whatever you like. Toaa will provide several great Waterscapes for you to choose from, or you can bring your own.

Water scenes are a great lesson in perspective, light source, color theory, value, and contrast. We will explore key issues of painting and art-making, including composition, brushwork, style, and storytelling — with an emphasis on fun.

Toaa will be painting along with the group, demonstrating and explaining methods and techniques. And everyone will receive individual attention and guidance also. Students will focus on one or two paintings, and everyone will be invited to share their work with the group, for friendly feedback.

Meet the Instructor:

Toaa Dallo has offered classes and intensive workshops at his Santa Cruz Art Studios since 1994 and has also given numerous lectures and demonstrations for art clubs and organizations. In 2012 he began teaching classes and all-day workshops at Palace Art in Capitola, where he has worked with thousands of students of all ages, interests, and needs. Toaa’s work is included in many private and corporate collections and has been seen in art shows and galleries principally in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This fun one-day painting session is for everyone. Beginners are welcome, and more advanced painters will increase their skills. You can use acrylics, oils, watercolors, pastels — whatever you like. Toaa will provide several great Cloudscapes for you to choose from, or you can bring your own.

Cloud scenes are a great lesson in color theory, temperature, value, and contrast. We will explore key issues of painting and art-making, including composition, brushwork, style, and storytelling — with an emphasis on fun.

Toaa will be painting along with the group, demonstrating and explaining methods and techniques. And everyone will receive individual attention and guidance. Students will focus on one or two paintings, and everyone will be invited to share their work with the group for friendly feedback.

Meet the Instructor:

Toaa Dallo has offered classes and intensive workshops at his Santa Cruz Art Studios since 1994 and has also given numerous lectures and demonstrations for art clubs and organizations. In 2012 he began teaching classes and all-day workshops at Palace Art in Capitola, where he has worked with thousands of students of all ages, interests, and needs. Toaa’s work is included in many private and corporate collections and has been seen in art shows and galleries principally in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This class meets towards the end of the wharf across from Stagnaro’s deli window. Barbara will paint along with students as demonstrations are needed. There is a variety of subject matter to choose from. Color mixing, paint application, composition, brush control, value choices, and much more will be discussed. This class is for those that have some painting experience.

Meet the Instructor:

Barbara Bailey-Porter holds a Masters of Fine Art, has been an Open Studio artist and has maintained a professional painting studio for well over 20 years. She has taught at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, through Cabrillo and DeAnza Colleges, and in the elementary schools in the past. She works in her studio as well as en plein air. Barbara’s work is in various private and corporate collections in the US and abroad.

In this workshop you will create  a unique patterned cloth  inspired by the Yoruba people, Nigeria, West Aftrica.  The process uses a starch resist technique and tie dying.

The class will  introduce the dyeing technique of Adire Elecko  ( hand painted with indigo dye) In the class we will use a contemporary dyeing agent instead of the traditional indigo. To complete the fabric for the pillow, Adire Oniko cloth (term for tie dyed fabric) will be used for the back.

The Adire Eleko cloth is a personal piece of art.  It represents the artist and their family through the creation of patterns using symbolic and geometric designs.

Step by step instructions on the design aspect will start the class followed by the resist process, think batik with no heat.  First session will make the design and paint the resist. Second session will be dye painting on the resist fabric and  tie dye for the pillow back.  We will also be able to sew the pillow and stuff it.  When you finish the workshop you will take a special, meaningful piece of art that your created home!

Workshop is designed for all, no prior experience necessary.

Donna Thompson is a professional art educator and practicing artist, with twenty five years teaching art with an emphasis on world culture.

Participants will enjoy a class where they will be introduced to basic techniques, experiment with the acrylic medium, and create an art piece in their own unique style!

In this class you will learn:
1. How to use acrylic paint and how to use water to make it as thick as oil painting or as thin as watercolor.
2. The advantages of working with acrylic paint
3.To play with Acrylic paints

Materials list:

1. 2 canvases 16×20 (additional bigger and smaller size canvases are optional )
2. Optional: 3 pieces of Acrylic or mixed media paper 11×14
3.  Palette knives, brushes, palette or palette paper
4. Acrylic paint – unlimited palette (the more colors the better! Bring what you have, or colors you like)
5. Permanent and/or water-soluble markers, pens

Heejin Lee is based at the Tannery Arts Center and has an undergrad in Fine Arts, graduate work in Art History, and an Art Education certificate. Originally from Korea, Heejin fell in love with art as a kid and has since cultivated a lifelong life passion for creating deeply expressive paintings and teaching others how to do the same. Heejin enjoys to share art experiences with others: it’s satisfying to her to encourage and inspire people in their creative experiences.