This course is for landscape painters who want to learn how the process of building a series can:
foster a deeper, richer engagement with their subject matter,
establish or strengthen a focused, prolific studio practice
spark new ideas, creative combinations of ideas, motifs, materials and tools
encourage exploration and engagement through process and experimentation
result in an authentic, personal body of work
This is an in-depth 12-week course limited to 10 students.
Locate and explore motifs, themes, ideas, connections that have a deeper, richer meaning for you and result in more impactful, authentic work
Use the process to explore, investigate, experiment and dig deeper into new ideas, combinations of ideas, motifs, techniques, materials and tools
Reveal or strengthen your intentions for your work and your unique voice
How to organize, plan and execute a series
Promote visibility and career goals (solo shows, gallery representation, publications, etc.)
For over twenty years, I have been teaching what I call the nuts and bolts of landscape painting—foundational concepts like values, color, drawing, and composition, as well as techniques like indirect painting, brushwork, and direct painting. I also wrote a book called Painting the Woods, in which I wrote about how my process is tied to a deep connection with nature, observation, and memory.
I often mentor students as well, helping them move further along their journey as landscape painters. Once the “nuts and bolts” are addressed, there is little help for the artist looking for guidance in their creative journey. So in 2023, for the first time, I will also be teaching courses on creative development.
During the course of my career as a professional artist, and particularly in the last ten years, I have often worked in a series, producing bodies of work that were tied together by a common idea, theme, or concept. I discovered that the process of working in a series could be enormously rewarding-- invigorating new ideas, new ways of working, and new connections. It has also been rewarding for my career as an artist exhibiting and selling my work.
So my second offering in the Creative Development courses this year is a 12-week course called Working in a Series. This 12-week intensive course is for the intermediate to advanced landscape painter - someone with a good foundation in nuts and bolts. You might be a relatively new landscape painter with a couple of years of experience in the “how to” of landscape painting, wanting to take the next step in your journey, or you might have many years of experience but be ready for a shift or change of direction in your work.
This course is limited to ten students. We will work together in a small, collegial, supportive group, and there will also be individual coaching sessions to address each artist’s particular goals and intentions for their work.
I am very excited about this course and look forward to facilitating an intensive program of creative development. I hope you will join us!
Deborah Paris is an American landscape painter, author, and teacher. She is the founder of The Landscape Atelier, her teaching studio, and the author of Painting the Woods: Nature, Memory and Metaphor (Texas A&M University Press 2020). Based on a foundation of intense and close observation, drawing, memory, and imagination, her work explores an intuitive connection to and her experience of nature.
Deborah’s work is represented by galleries throughout the US. She has been featured in Art of the West, American Painting Video Magazine, American Artist, Southwest Art, The Pastel Journal and Professional Artist Magazine. Her work has been shown at the Laguna Art Museum, the Albuquerque Museum of Art, the Panhandle-Plains Museum, the Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, The National Wildlife Museum, and the Gilcrease Museum.
When she isn’t painting or teaching, Deborah is an avid walker, birder, naturalist, reader, and writer. She lives and works in northeast Texas.
Visit Deborah at her website – https://www.deborahparis.com
For more about Deborah’s teaching philosophy and online learning, you can listen to this podcast.
“When covid hit, I decided to take on-line classes and workshops to elevate my painting skills. I wanted to take a deep dive to fill in the skills I was missing. I have signed up for every class Deborah offers. I am thrilled with what I am learning and how it is advancing my painting skills.”
Susan Powers
“My landscape art has improved so much because of the Landscape Atelier with Deborah Paris. Her classes simplify the complex nature of landscape art. Deborah’s classes helped me breakdown the landscape so I could focus and improve on one part at a time. Deborah’s classes will help you find your visual voice in landscape art.”
Kathy Wood
“After finishing a year of classes at the Landscape Atelier, I can honestly say that Deborah is not only a top-notch artist but also a gifted teacher. She brings her experience as an artist to teaching with a generosity of spirit that make her classes both instructive and fun. The interactive online setting with not just Deborah but also the fellow artists who participate in her classes adds to the overall experience.”
Susanne Jantsch
“Deborah is a world-class teacher. She is thorough, thoughtful, kind, and very skilled. This atelier is the place where week by week you build on your skills and understanding with lesson plans, exercises, video demonstrations and zoom meetings. You have a sense of community with the other students and her platform allows you to see other people’s work for her appraisal and for yours. She replies quickly, kindly, thoroughly.”
Maggie Parkinson
“The Landscape Atelier offers a comprehensive set of courses for developing skills as a landscape artist. Deborah Paris is an excellent instructor who has put together a package of course materials that provides guidance and inspiration. I am on my seventh course, and the way the lessons from each course connect and build on each other has been very powerful in underscoring key concepts.”
Susan J.
“Deborah Paris’ deep appreciation for the fundamentals of her craft, her intimate approach to the natural world, and her enthusiasm for teaching the traditions of landscape painting is what makes the Landscape Atelier such a special place. It is a profound place for artistic development.”
Rob Wellings