The Dao of Seeing

Painting from nature, out in the open, is a pleasurable challenge. It calls for a sustained effort of looking and repeated painting. We will learn to slow the mind in order to SEE, and then to flow with the tide of creation. This workshop on the repeated practice of looking and painting will take place between the studio and the open air. We will learn specific meditation methods, color mixing, painting wet in wet, Western and Asian composition strategies, using ebb and flow and seeing through momentary conditions. Playful experiment and grounding in meditation will be integral to our workshop. Only expectations limit the possibilities.

A Northwest native, Jef Gunn studied drawing and painting in California through the 1970s, held residencies in Barcelona and Paris in the 1980s, and since the mid 1990s has engaged in a passionate study of Asian art. With a balance of humor, broad knowledge and helpful insight, he is able to draw from each student her or his own natural way to paint, while bringing to bear practical instruction through historical examples, especially of the Modern period. He's been teaching for 22 years.

ESSENTIAL:

• Paint: a full complement of the primaries (a warm & a cool of each)* plus White and a few Earth Colors

(yellow ochre, burnt sienna, raw or burnt umber). Oils are recommended as the most versatile, but you

can work in acrylic too.

• (Some students have chosen to work in watercolor or pastels. These are fine media and you are

welcome to use them, but please know that I am not proficient in either so cannot offer much

instruction beyond the elements common to all media, those of composition, color, inspiration and

stillness.)

• Don’t forget your brushes (you laugh!)

• An easel that works in the out of doors. The \"French\" easel, a paint box with legs and arms, is very

handy. Julien is the old maker and perhaps the best quality. Craigslist often has some at a bargain.

Cheap ones are sometimes poorly made. There are newer designs now that seem really great.

• A light-weight aluminum or steel easel can work as well but should be anchored down in a wind. The

Stanrite 300 is a great simple easel.

• Minimum 6 canvasses or panels of similar size and format. Feel free to bring whatever size and format

you feel good with (**See note below). Prime with pale grey, sienna, or brownish GESSO*** (see 3rd

note below)

• Small container of solvent. (For acrylic or WC: 2 cans for water: 1 stays clean, the other for brushes gets

dirty)

• At least a couple of palette knives, for mixing and for painting. Metal with wood handles. Not plastic

• Rags, and cans or jars for solvent and medium. More rags

• Box or Bag or backpack for carrying stuff

OPTIONAL:

• Canvas carriers with which you can carry two or more canvasses together.

• Medium. Galkyd or Liquin works fine. There are some handy gel mediums too. You don’t need a lot of

medium. Ask me if you have questions about mediums.

• Sun hat, water bottle, non-toxic bug repellent

• Rain hat, or wool hat, and jacket, just in case

• Barrier crème for hands

• Waterless hand cleaner

• Water bottle or thermos

• Folding chair

• More rags

*The primaries : Blue, Red, Yellow. Warm and cool of each: egs. BLUE Ultramarine (warm) and Cerulean (cool); RED Cad. Red med. or light (warm) and Alizarin Crimson (cool); Yellow Cad. Yellow Med. (warm) and Hansa Yellow (cool). Yellow ochre of course, but that falls into the Earth Colors, which are not really part of color theory.

**You can paint in a variety of formats. Landscape is generally horizontal. You’ll want to at least suggest a foreground, a middle-ground and a background. Long narrow horizontals accentuate breadth of spreading land/water. Tall formats accentuate receding space. Square is neutral. I like to work on a 1:2 or a 1:3 format. (eg. 10 x 20 is common for me, as well as 10 x 25 or 10 x 30. )

***The colored ground will help to pull your colors together in the final painting. Just put some black and/or burnt umber acrylic paint into the gesso. Or, you can put a thin ground of any neutral color over the gesso layer, before you go out, or on site. Sienna or a buttery ochre work, too. You’ll see why this is a good idea. For very hot, bright weather, I’ve even tried a blue ground.

INSTRUCTOR PROVIDES:

• Supplies for Day 3 studio work (Chinese paper, ink and brushes, etc.)

• A set of handouts (readings)

• Cushions and pads for meditation