Go Bold! Painting Dynamic Pastel Landscapes with Susan Mayfield

Workshop Description (from the instructor)

Do your paintings disappear on the wall? Do you often wonder how to make your paintings stand out, how to make your work “pop”? This 2-day workshop will explore ways to make more compelling and powerful visual statements through the luminous medium of pastel, focusing on the landscape for inspiration and subject matter. The workshop will consist of demos, painting exercises, group discussions, positive critiques and lots of hands-on individual attention. Oil and Acrylic painters are welcome to attend – demos will be done in pastel and Mayfield will work individually with you in your medium.

Make your pastel painting more expressive and visually interesting from start to finish, from choosing subject matter, editing reference photos, simplifying and improving design and composition, using dynamic value contrasts,pushing color schemes, and using color temperature to create mood and emotion. Make colors pop, develop more interesting compositions, learn to edit and simplify, explore ways to use contrasts to push values and color temperature to make a stronger painting. Students will learn guidelines to help them critique their own work while strengthening the fundamentals in their paintings.

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This workshop would be best for students who have some drawing or painting experience, but Susan will take on beginners, especially those beginners who work in a different medium and would like to try pastels. Students who want to try out pastels, but are not ready to purchase them are invited to pay an additional fee of $25 to use Susan's pastels. (Good pastels are expensive to get into, so she offers this to her workshop students.)

About the Instructor

Susan Mayfield is an award-winning artist known for her use of bold color in her luminous pastel and oil landscapes. A native South Carolinian and life-long resident of the Lowcountry, she moved to Colorado 15 years ago, splitting her time between life on the Carolina coast and her home in the high mountain desert of Colorado. Currently she paints and teaches from her studio in the small mountain town of Salida, CO.

A graduate with honors in Fine Arts from the College of Charleston, Mayfield’s career has included solo and group exhibits in galleries such as the Wells Gallery, the Gibbes Museum in Charleston, SC, the Joyce Robins Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, the Red Piano Gallery in Hilton Head, SC, the Paquette Gallery in Salida, CO, among others. Recent awards for her paintings include Best in Show and People’s Choice awards at the 2015 and 2019 South Park Plein Air Festival, Best in Show and Southwest Magazine Award at the 2018 Mile High Pastel Society of Colorado National Exhibition, Quick Draw Awards at the 2018 Central City Colorado Plein Air Festival and at the 2017 Red Rocks Plein Air Festival in Moab, Utah, and the Elizabeth Mowry Poetic Landscape Award at the 2017 Mile High Colorado Pastel Society Exhibition. She recently won 2nd place at the 2023 Monuments and Canyon Plein Air Festival in Grand Junction, Colorado. Her paintings have been chosen for the Art in Embassies Program, and her work hangs in numerous corporate and private collections. In addition to painting, she teaching workshops and classes in her studio and across the country. Her work can be seen at the Sage Mountain Gallery in Salida, Colorado, her studio at the Sandusky in Salida, CO, and at the Flow Gallery in Palmetto Bluff, SC, where she was Artist in Residence in October, 2023. Mayfield achieved Signature Status with the Pastel Society of Colorado in 2023.

“I grew up and spent most of my life in the semi-tropics of the Lowcountry of South Carolina, a verdant place surrounded by water, where the marshes, rivers, and swamps provided endless subject matter for my paintings. I moved to the high mountain desert of Colorado, another stunning geography where water is scarce, but its power and memory of its presence is evident in every canyon and mountain range there. I am grateful to live and paint in both of these incredible landscapes.”  –Susan Mayfield

https://susanmayfield.net

Supply List 

From the Instructor: 

Please bring the following to the workshop...

1. Please bring a painting of yours that has given you problems, or that youcan't figure out why it doesn't work, and I will do a mini-critique and offer suggestions.
2. A dozen or more reference photos or computer images of landscapes-the less complicated images the better! Bring some darker-valued photos (mostly medium to dark values, lots of shadow, low light, dusk, etc...) and some lighter-valued photos (mostly light, "high-key", bright, foggy, etc..) I prefer students bring in your own photos that you took yourself.
3. Notepad or sketchbook to do thumbnails/notan (value sketches)
4. Something to sketch thumbnails/notan such as: several shades/values ofgrey markers (Copic, Prismacolor are good brands) or soft vine charcoaland eraser.
5. Pastel paper of choice with drawing board-we will be doing severalexercises, as many as time will allow, where we will tape off a larger piece of paper into 2 smaller sections of 5x7 or 6x8 size. I will be using U-art paper, 400 or 500 grade, which I will tone with alcohol and hard pastel and recommend this paper for the workshop, I also use Sennelier La Carte paper and PastelMat at times and will have samples. You are welcome to bring whatever pastel paper or surface you like to use-I will have samples of other paper that you can try out. We will be experimenting with sanded pastel paper and alcohol washes for you to try if this is new to you.
6. An old brush or foam brush and alcohol to tone your pastel paper
7. Pastels. You don’t need to bring your entire studio set, but do bring a goodrange of color and value. I use a variety of soft pastels, including Nu- Pastels as my hardest, and Terry Ludwig, Sennelier, Unison, etc...as my softer pastels.
8. Masking tape. I've been using black, but the regular is fine. I don't recommend using blue or green masking tape.
9. Drawing board/s-I use any kind of gesso board, any kind of painting board in sizes 11x14/12x16”
10. Easel for table or standing (unless the facility provides easels)
11. Scissors, baby wipes, apron.

I will have extras of most everything and will be happy to share.

Registration

Registration is open to all artists.  CCAL members pay $300 ($50 minimum deposit required). Non-members pay $325 ($50 minimum deposit required).

Note: This event will be held indoors. By registering for this event you agree that you understand the risks of COVID and agree to the CCAL COVID Waiver Policy.