Painting & Drawing
Code: D0511-25
-
O
Open to All
Students of any skill and knowledge level.
From Plein-Air to the Studio: Landscape and Figure
Jun 30 - Jul 4, 2025
9AM-5PM
Concept
Explore today’s challenges in painting through observational exploration merged with abstract gestures and material experimentation. This exciting workshop takes place both outside and in the painting classroom. Students focus on smaller works outdoors, then enter the studio to translate them into larger works as they incorporate abstraction and color theory as well as various acrylic painting techniques. Students also get the chance to explore the figure and its place within the pictorial landscape by working from a live model. The focus is primarily live observation, with an exploratory approach to the practice of painting through material experimentation and dyeing of canvas as ways to build space and richness.
Media & Techniques
Acrylic painting, plein-air painting, painting from a live model, canvas dyeing
Faculty
Esteban Cabeza de Baca & Heidi Howard
Esteban Cabeza de Baca and Heidi Howard have been collaborating for the past ten years. Both of their practices stem from the tradition of painting and delve into humanity’s most pressing concerns. Their site-specific installations question conventions of painting, authorship, gender, race, growth and humanity. Howard’s work stems from the practice of portraiture. They were born, raised, and currently live in Queens, NY. Their first monograph “Colors make us do vibrant deeds!” was published by Phoebe Press. Cabeza de Baca was born along the US Mexico border of San Ysidro, CA and grew up in west Denver, CO in the Chicano community. Cabeza de Baca’s work is in numerous collections including Harvard University, MCA San Diego, Parrish Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, Tia Collection, and Williams College Museum of Art.
Esteban Cabeza de Baca and Heidi Howard, Clocks
Tuition: $1,415.00
Studio Fee: $125.00
Registration Fee: $45.00
NEW: Tuition includes the welcome dinner and daily lunch
Registration Information
Painting & Drawing
Make, reflect, consider, engage—these are all critical elements of the Painting and Drawing workshops at Anderson Ranch. Our exceptional workshops combine focused, hands-on art making with critical feedback for artists of all levels. Painting and Drawing guest faculty are phenomenal artists and educators with experience supporting students by offering technical knowledge and encouragement.
The bright, natural light of the Wyly Painting and Drawing Building provides an inspiring environment where students can explore and expand their artistic practice. Our facilities are equipped with individual worktables, wall space, easels, rolling palettes, odorless solvents, a wide range of hand tools, computer access with Adobe software, wifi, printing, scanning, and projection capabilities. Spend a week here— or several—and engage in a variety of activities that will fuel your practice throughout the year.
Workshop Details
Workshop Supplies
Provided by Anderson Ranch
Equipment
- Butcher paper
- Containers
- Cordless drills
- Cutting mats**
- Drawing boards
- Easels
- Gamsol (OMS)**
- Gloves
- Glues**
- Hand tools: hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, clamps
- Laser printer
- Palette knives**
- Palette-topped utility carts
- Presentation projector
- Push pins
- Rags
- Rulers**
- Scanner
- Scissors
- Spray bottles**
- Staple guns
- Stools
- Tape**
- Work tables
Supplies
- 5 gallon buckets
- Ampersand Claybord - 6" x 6", 1/8" Flat, Pkg of 4
- Ampersand Claybord Art Tiles - 3-1/2" W x 3-1/2" L x 1/8" D, Package of 4
- Canvas pliers
- Golden Acrylic Medium**
- Jacquard Indigo Dye Kit
- Palette paper**
- String and clothes pins
- Utrecht Professional Acrylic Gesso
What you need to bring
Required Tools and Supplies
- 2 Blick Painting Knives - Small Long Spade 50
- 3 yds Unprimed Cotton Canvas by the yard - 12 oz, 72"**
- Golden Heavy Body Artist Acrylic Set - Mixing Set of 12 with Gloss Glazing Liquid, 22 ml Tubes**
- Golden Heavy Body Artist Acrylics - Fluorescent Green, 2 oz Tube**
- Golden Heavy Body Artist Acrylics - Fluorescent Pink, 2 oz Tube**
- Heavy duty 30" x 40" stretcher bars with cross supports or corners
- Princeton Select Brush Set - Brush Set No. 1, Set of 3
- Princeton Snap! Golden Taklon Brush Set - Short Handle, set 2
- Prohibited supplies: power tools, torches, spray paint, encaustic, turpentine, resin, plastisol, any solvent that isn’t low VOC
Optional Tools and Supplies
- 30" x 40" stretchers - Artel is an ideal alternative to the required stretchers, highly recommended
- 40" x 60" stretchers (option for additional surface) - Artel highly recommended
- 60" x 60" stretchers (option for additional surface) - Artel highly recommended
- White (or light colored) t-shirt for screen printing**
* Available for purchase in the studio.
** Available to purchase at the Anderson Ranch ArtWorks Store for 10% off.
Learn more about shipping supplies and artwork to and from the Ranch in the Student Handbook.
Lodging & Meals
Housing is limited and includes shared and private lodging options. Reservations will be managed on a first-come, first-served basis. The earlier you reserve housing, the better your chance of receiving your preferred option. Please note: Workshop costs do not include accommodations.
NEW: Tuition includes a welcome dinner and lunches. In our effort to foster a stronger sense of community and accessibility at Anderson Ranch, we include the welcome dinner and all lunches as part of the tuition for summer workshop students. Our hope is that this adjustment will encourage all students to come together to share meals and engage in meaningful conversations. The Ranch Café Meal Plan, which is included with Room and Board fees, strives to provide healthy, creative meals that will nourish your artistic creativity. Learn more.
We have established a Business Safety Plan with added layers of precaution that prioritize the health and safety of our staff, students, faculty and guests while continuing to provide you with the Anderson Ranch experience that you know and enjoy.
Related Events
Scholarships, College Credit & Discounts
Making Art Accessible
Applications for scholarship support are encouraged. Specific scholarships are funded by Ranch supporters, either through endowed funds or special gifts.
Many colleges and universities offer college credit for workshops taken at Anderson Ranch. Discounts are available for students and teachers.
You Might Also Be Interested In
-
O
Open to All
Students of any skill and knowledge level.
Jun 2 - 6, 2025
9AM-5PM
Works on Paper: Collage and Gouache
Amaryllis R. Flowers
Tuition $1,415
Code D0102-25
Students explore mixed media as they create works on paper in this dynamic and experimental workshop for students of all levels. The beauty of gouache and its potential for vibrancy and rich, matte tones is introduced and put into practice. Paper and its seductive surface quality and versatility as a substrate is used in a variety of ways to create collaged and multilayered imagery. Students produce multiple works on paper and discover new skills through prompts and exposure to materials, with both abstraction and the figure as options for subject matter.
-
O
Open to All
Students of any skill and knowledge level.
Jun 2 - 6, 2025
9AM-5PM
Portrait and Figure in Watercolor: Curiosity and Awareness
Brian Shure
Tuition $1,415
Code D0103-25
Bring the face and figure to life with the transparency and immediacy of watercolor. This extremely expressive media can also be highly controlled. We work from life as well as photographic sources in this deceivingly direct paint medium. With daily demonstrations and a series of simple and accessible studio exercises, students develop skills controlling resoluble colors, reserving and pulling back highlights and maintaining brilliant and delicate tones that are unique to water-based media. We focus on capturing the essence of the portrait and figure through taking time to look and record what we see.
-
O
Open to All
Students of any skill and knowledge level.
Jun 2 - 6, 2025
9AM-5PM
Painting: Encompassing Wonder
Jody Guralnick
Tuition $1,415
Code D0101-25
Observe nature with fresh eyes, letting time slow to examine the wild world closely. Investigate nature firsthand, using magnifying loupes to inspect subjects, contemplating life, growth, decay, and regeneration. Using the natural world as source material, we read, discuss, observe, and embark on a painting journey. The emphasis of this workshop is thinking about painting as process and movement rather than fixed form, depicting nature with paint without needing to reproduce observations in a literal way. Melding abstraction and representation, students discover and produce depth, allowing an image to float to the surface. We learn to develop form, mix color, and consider composition, all inspired by what we see around us.