Painting Color~ May Workshop, Boston

Painting Light With Color

Still Life Workshop with Melody Phaneuf

May 14, 21, 28

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Eggs and Shells, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

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Light bathes objects in its path and reveals exquisite interactions of color.

Learn to translate the visual experience of light & color into oil paint in a 3-day workshop given by Melody Phaneuf at Fenway Studios, Boston.

Focus is on painting a simple still life arrangement. Immerse yourself in a traditional approach to oil painting in ideal, north light studio conditions.

Workshop will be held May 14, 21, 28, and from 10:30–1:30; cost is $275; bring a friend and you both save $75.

Contact:
Melody Phaneuf, 617 236 4322 or email workshop

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Melody Phaneuf began artistic studies at Vesper George School of Art. Influenced by teachers Robert Douglas Hunter and Robert Cormier, she advanced her skills in the Boston School tradition with portrait artist, Robert Cormier at Fenway Studios ?in Boston. The rigorous training in drawing, painting and composition gave Phaneuf the fluency to communicate her artistic vision.

Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. She has exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet ?in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Her paintings are regularly on view at ?The Guild of Boston Artists, Boston, North Shore Arts in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Bennington Center for The Arts in Bennington, Vermont. Phaneuf has recently been invited to become an exhibiting artist at Patricia Hutton Galleries, soon to open in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

Phaneuf maintains a studio at Fenway Studios in Boston, where she paints and holds workshops, continuing the Boston School lineage.

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Training The Visual Memory Part II~ Color

The Critique
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Color is to me, the most delicious aspect of painting. The ability to recall intriguing color arrangements is a most helpful tool for the artist. The following exercise will help train the eye and mind to memorize color.

It’s best to start with single colors. Choose flat colored papers to begin. A box of Color Aid paper is ideal but a bit expensive. If you plan to do other color exercises it is worth the investment, otherwise any colored paper with a variety of hues will do.

I think oil paints are the best to use for this practice because the color you mix will be what you see when you compare it to that which you are trying to recall. Tempera changes value as it dries and watercolor, being transparent, is greatly influenced by its ground.

Cover the table you are working on with a grey cloth or paper. If you don’t have grey, black is the next best choice. Have your paints, brushes, 4 x 4 squares of illustration board and anything else that you need ready but out of your immediate visual field.

Place the color you are trying to memorize in front of you on the table and focus on it for 3 minutes. Close your eyes, remove the paper, and mix what you just saw. Paint the illustration board. When you are finished, take out the original paper and compare them. Ask yourself 3 questions~ should it be lighter or darker, warmer or cooler, duller or brighter?

Put this aside and try another color. A good strategy is to choose 3 or 4 colors and practice these for a week or until you can mix them exactly. Try another set the following week. Once matching simple flat colors is achieved, more sophisticated memory exercises for color combinations can be approached.

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

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