What happens if I can’t attend all your classes in the 6 week period?

This is no problem because you can take that class a different day and different time as long as you fit it in a 6 week period. Another way to solve this is if you know ahead of time what days you will be absent and can’t replace the class another day, you will be charged only proportionally the classes you would take.

What if I have a different painting style than the instructor?

We do not believe in creating clones. The idea is to guide you and give you insight on how you can improve within your intent to express. What we will offer will be suggestions that most professional artists use to make their painting the most appealing. Universal principles of design must work for all artists in every medium. Example you may like more intense color than the norm. What we will do is suggest how to make this color work the best in YOUR mood and personality. We are to supply information not impose the instructors’ own painting tastes. Yet it will be unavoidable that your work will be sterile to your instructor’s style. Some or much of it will rub off to you. All professional artists have the formation of artists whose work is appealing to them. I feel many actually would expect this.

How long do you expect the students to complete a painting?

If there is no demo in that class, you should be able to complete a painting in one session. It is not uncommon for a professional artist to complete a small painting in 2 to 3 hours.

What about the levels? Are they all mixed up?

We want to separate the true beginners from the experienced artists so the beginners will receive more focus on paint mixing and brush strokes. It is hard when starting out the levels because when students sign up they either underestimate themselves or overestimate themselves. We have seen people call themselves advanced and are not and others say they are beginners and are not. Others have developed bad habits that can be taken care of even in beginner’s classes. The first week of class in this occasion we will be able to determine this more accurately and place students in the right level that give the best results. This may mean having to take the class another day.

Do you follow a lesson plan or a programme?

Yes, we will follow a structured syllabus that worked for Johannes and how he learned. For more information please read this:

http://cyberartlearning.com/EdmontonArtSchool/Edmonton-Art-School.html

A detailed lesson plan is being developed but not posted in this email.

The objective is to teach you all there is to learn and at least intellectualize it by understanding common approaches that all the accomplished artists follow. We will not hold back information to slow down the students which is common practice of other instructors. Assuming you are in a landscape course. Basically the approach will be:

a)      A lecture by using slides of leading artists on how they depict the different elements of a painting. You will learn how and where to place the various symbols that represent the landscape.

b)      This will be accompanied by a live demo and the students will paint along with the instructor as they follow the process they watch on a large high definition image on an LCD screen. The instructor will move around and supervise each student as he works giving lots of personal support. Since artists are mostly visual the instructor will show them the techniques on their own paintings so they see exactly how to improve. The only way to learn is to imitate then perform by trial and error.

c)      There will be many demos and lots of painting time for the students.

What about the materials?

It is a condition to take the classes that you come with professional grade pigments and brushes. We don’t encourage students to use student quality materials because paint application is to be the last concern and low grade materials make you focus too much on how to get the paint on rather than deal with the symbols and their placement. If you struggle with the medium you will concentrate less on the shapes. We will be happy to recommend materials to you that will fit your budget yet be good enough ease the paint application. Also we will not allow any solvents except Eco House Citrus thinner (oil painting classes). Here is more information on this product:

http://www.eco-house.com/citrus_thinner115.html

For the time being you bring your easel and art supplies. Some prefer a table easel due to its lightness. If you bring a larger easel you can leave it behind as long as others can use it. For now we don’t have space for everyone to leave their personal easel here. You can leave behind your paints and brushes and these will not be used by others. We will provide the resources of the teaching materials such as reference photos and written tutorials. However these materials will be emailed to you and you have to print your own or make agreements with a classmate to do it for you.

If I recommend your classes to a friend of mine can he join at any time?

Yes, by all means. Registration is open all the time. They would pay proportionally what is left in that course. In fact he will be able to visit a class for free to evaluate if this is what he wants. If he decides to sign up after visiting the class then this would be his first class. If he doesn’t sign up he pays nothing. Many aspiring artists have gone through negative experiences and want to make sure their investment in time and money will result into what they are looking for.

How many students will you have in class?

We will not accept more than 15. In case it grows near that amount, we will persuade some to move to a smaller group if it is viable.

What if I paint in another medium that is not oil or watercolour?

No problem if you paint acrylics you can join the oil class for it is the same procedure. This applies to water soluble oils as well. Let us know if you paint with pastels to seat you properly as well.

Do you only teach landscape painting?

Yes, that's all we have for now.