Abstract Art
Andrea Wedell
The key to artistic creativity is action. Creativity starts when you do it, and creative flow comes from being in motion. You don’t need an exceptional idea to begin a painting, you just need to start where you are. Making abstract art is all about improvisation, and the exhilarating process of calling and responding to what you’re doing as you go along, but there are still some fundamentals to learn first. The end result of a successful painting, often combines qualities of spontaneity and effortless grace. As those who have tried will know, creating that work, is not quite as simple as it might look, so….
A workshop on composition, mark-making, color and form, helping you gain confidence with your abstract painting, by:
· Learning key composition concepts that you can easily apply,
· Making exciting marks to add rhythm and variety to the work
· Harmonizing color to make it sing
· Glazing color for nuance and jewel like depth
· Understanding and experimenting with how shapes play against one another
· Learning to use value changes effectively to strengthen the work
The workshop will feature: A conceptual exercise to find avenues to and inspiration for abstraction (zooming in on a detail from a larger image, the abstracted figure, abstracted landscape, dreams, music etc…) up-levelling your skill based on where you are and want to learn, painting practice, individual and group critique.
Skills we’ll look at: Basic elements of a successful composition, Working with value differences – darks and lights, Using tools: brushes, palate knives, scrapers, rags, sand paper. Color harmony and texture, inserting rhythmic line into the abstracted image.
Working with Andrea to practice these skills, you’ll be ready to focus on where to draw inspiration and will be guided to create paintings that express your own visual vocabulary and singular voice. From beginner to advanced, All levels are welcome in my classes, and will find themselves both supported and inspired.
The demonstrations and practice sessions will be about making abstract art with water based acrylic paint
Cost per participant: $200 per person.
Call 707-791-4028 or email info@healdsburgartatelier.com to reserve your space.
Andrea Wedell is the daughter and grand-daughter of artists and architects. Growing up, she was surrounded by strong willed artists, and grew to hold beauty as the guiding force in her own life.
When her grandfather, Alexander Stoller sold half of his land in the Berkshire mountains to cast one of his largest marble sculptures in bronze, it was acquired by the American Embassy in Paris. Andrea attended the opening ceremony, and shortly after, captivated by the magnitude of culture available in Europe, uprooted from her native California and moved to Paris. The France adventure spanned 27 years before she moved back to her much-loved California in 2013.
Andrea has a bachelor of Arts from UCLA, and while in Paris, she studied under acclaimed Beaux Art teachers Michele Massiou and Jacqueline Guillermain for over 10 years. develop her multi -layering abstract technique.
She began exhibiting regularly at the Grand Marche d’Art Contemporain in Paris, before becoming a permanent artist with Galerie BE Espace also in Paris for 10 years. Her work has been published by Les Editions Arcadia in France. In California, she’s a featured artist at Toadfish Contemporary Gallery in Sausalito, has exhibited regularly at Desta Gallery in San Anselmo and Gray Loft Gallery in Oakland. She’s represented by SF Moma Artist’s gallery in San Francisco.
She has been making art for two decades, and teaching for one. Her second profession as a certified life coach further enhances her art education practice.
