Visionary Art Intensive Painting Retreat With David Heskin & Aloria Weaver, from Luminous Flux Gallery (Loveland Colorado)

(2017) 1st- 10th December

In the first 3 days, we will be primarily focused on technical aspects of the craft of oil painting.

The Art of Oil Painting explores the differences and similarities between direct and indirect (layered) painting approaches, from the ground up, summarizing extensive research into a practical and effective means of artistic expression.

Our exploration will take us through a variety of traditional and visionary oil painting processes while translating these techniques into a unique means for personal expression.

Returning students will build upon the elements that were introduced in other classes, while new students will gain a broad understanding of a diversity of drawing and painting materials and techniques.

Our mission in offering time-tested techniques which ultimately guide our students to develop their own unique artistic approach, rather than simply copying another artist’s methods.

During this painting journey, students will create a more ambitious Mischtechnik (egg tempera & oil) painting based on their personal vision to put these techniques into action.

The last 7 days of Visionary Alchemy are dedicated to the Artist’s Journey: a synthesis of inner and outer inspiration and the cultivation of a dedicated painting practice combined with a magical working knowledge of the natural elements that are the building blocks of a painting.

The curriculum follows the various stages of a layered painting technique, specifically addressing each of the following stages through demonstrations, hands-on practice, and presentations:

 

  • Foundational Elements, Composition & the Drawing Phase
  • Underpainting: Exploring various traditional methods for developing an oil painting, from the ground up
  • Oil Glazing: Creating depth & luminosity while maintaining overall harmony
  • Overpainting: Building volume & dimension through translucent paint layers
  • Finishing Touches: Stylistic approaches to the end of the journey of the painting

Weaving elemental forces into the materials and mediums of painting turns the art into a talismanic portal to the mysteries of Nature.

Synthesizing internal and external subject matter, this workshop presents the opportunity for students to develop a uniquely personalized approach to the practice of oil painting.

Cultivating inner vision and imagination in parallel with the observation of Nature allows artists a broad range of creative expression.

This workshop will emphasize a devotional focus on our painting practice through meditative concentration both in the studio and outdoors.

Traditional mediums took time to create, and it takes focused time to learn the methods and materials of generations of old masters techniques. In these ten days, students will enjoy a hands-on approach to the preparation of handmade paints and painting mediums.

Our exploration will take us through the many layers of a traditional painting process while translating these techniques into a unique means for personal expression.

Workshop attendees may or may not achieve a finished painting, but in either case, will produce a painting that demonstrates the many steps of a layered painting process – an artifact that each artist can take back to their studios and apply to their original works.

The full 10-day workshop includes our Materials & Mediums Presentation, a comprehensive de-mystification of traditional egg tempera, oil painting, and Mischtechnik materials.

This presentation covers the following topics and many more:

 

  • Pigments – Traditional, Mineral & Modern
  • Binders – Water- & Oil-Based archival paint vehicles
  • Resins, Solvents & Varnishes – Organic & Synthetic
  • Toxicity & Best Studio Practices

 

Students are welcome to bring questions related to their own works in addition to the scheduled curriculum. Returning students will build upon the elements that were introduced in other classes, while new students will gain a broad understanding of a diversity of drawing and painting materials and techniques.

The workshop is rich with presentations and demonstrations in the theory & practice of:

 

  • Oil Painting
  • Mischtechnik & other Indirect Painting ApproachesEgg Tempera
  • Underpainting Methods
  • Oil Glazes & Overpainting
  • Color Mixing – Direct & Layered Methods
  • Drawing & Painting from Life
  • Composition & Geometry
Photo Gallery of Visionary Alchemy Art Retreat
David Heskin

David Heskin

A lifelong artist, David Michael Heskin began oil painting in 1995. His first 15 years with oils were largely self-guided, after which time he sought out teachers of artistic techniques that are on the brink of being lost. Many years later, having studied in three distinct and direct master’s lineages, his original work has become an integrated expression of this artistic trinity. With an artistic focus to elegantly fuse the richness of traditional symbolic themes with the innovative spirit of a modern renaissance man, David lives in service to drawing forth new visions that invite a wide audience to bask in the inspirational light of creativity.
David’s paintings are inventive in their forms as he has taken his art far beyond the limitations of the status quo, into an altogether unprecedented realm. By devising techniques which allow his canvases to be constructed in nearly any shape, the form of the painting itself becomes suited to adequately fulfill the depth of his visions. In an exploration of creative freedom through elegant forms and impossible angles, his driving aspiration is to create artifacts and visual experiences which are otherwise unavailable to the human eye.
In 2014 David and his wife, the artist Aloria Weaver, opened Luminous Flux Gallery + Studios in Colorado where they exhibit their work in the context of diverse solo and group exhibitions. There they teach regular intensives on traditional and innovative painting methods and techniques.
David Heskin’s artwork is exhibited in museums, galleries, cultural centers, theaters and private collections throughout North America, Europe and beyond.

davidheskin.com/

@davidheskinart

Aloria Weaver

Aloria Weaver

Aloria Weaver was born in 1979 in western New York.  She began oil painting in 1993 as an apprentice to several professional artists at the Buffalo Art Studios of Western New York.  She later studied at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, then SUNY at Buffalo.

Weaver currently holds three distinct artistic lineages: training in classical realism through the Loveland Atelier (alumni of the Florence Academy of Art in Italy); training in traditional egg tempera and gilding through an unbroken transmission from master to student dating back to Fra Angelico in 1430; and Mischtechnik (or mixed technique), a process of painting with tempera and oil glazes that was thought to be the secret method of the Italian Renaissance masters, and later revived by Viennese artist, Professor Ernst Fuchs.

Aloria Weaver studied the human form through life drawing, figurative sculpture, oil painting, anatomy & physiology courses, and hands-on through Massage Therapy and Cranio-sacral Therapy.  Throughout her academic studies, Weaver explored a variety of mediums, including bronze casting; ceramic sculpture; photography; etching & printmaking; ultimately devoting herself to oil painting.

Weaver has exhibited work in a multitude of prominent locations in the US, including Alex Grey’s MicroCoSM Gallery (NYC), the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (OR), the Fenario Gallery (OR), the Hive Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), the Temple of Visions Gallery in (Los Angeles, CA) and Bash Contemporary (San Francisco, CA). Outside of the United States, Weaver’s artwork has been exhibited and sold in Austria, Hungary, England, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Australia, South Africa and Mexico.

aloriaweaver.com/

@aloriaweaver

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