WHY TAKE AN ABSTRACT ART WORKSHOP ?

Maybe a better questions is why not take an Abstract Art Workshop?

They are fun! They get the creative juices flowing. They are inspirational. They are nurturing and a great way to meet like-minded people.

If you are stuck, a workshop can give you new perspectives.

If you are a beginner, a workshop can teach you what abstract art is and the fundamentals of art..

If you have been away from your art, a workshop can jump start you back into your practice..

If you want to grow, a workshop can push your edges.

If you are curious, a workshop can ignite your imagination.

If you are open, a workshop can offer you new techniques for your toolbox and new perspectives.

If you are adventurous, a workshop can bring out your wildness! .
If you are daring, a workshop is a place to take risks and explore, delve and excavate.

If you are timid, a workshop can help you gain confidence to trust your intuition.

Workshops help artists become better artists!

We hope you look at our list of abstract art workshops and find one that is right for you!

Suzanne and Grant

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MEET MICHAEL CUTLIP

“I’m painting with paper. It’s totally improvised. The shapes are very impulsive.”

— Michael Cutlip

Michael Cutlip is a master at unexpected juxtapositions——Image a big, dynamic abstraction in red, orange and white, with chunks and splashes of other colors, and graphic elements taken from the street……this is Michael Cutlip’s art. Direct, Bold. Compelling……

Michael says he is inspired by the naïve gestures and honesty of children’s art, as well as the layering and weathered aspects of paint and postings on old buildings. He uses house paint, Xerox transfers, a printing press, wallpaper, book pages, and many other things not usually found at an art supply store. “In life I think I tend to be somewhat serious, but when I’m in the studio, it’s like playing. I’m having fun and putting things together. Then I find something that works and it makes me smile,” said Michael.

“I might start out just throwing down a bunch of flyers from a telephone pole, or tear up some posters just to get some stuff underneath, which a lot of times you see revealed in the edging,” he says. “What paper taught me is composition, and about color. Now I’m just dealing with the basics. Taking a piece of paper and tearing it, layering another piece on top of it, layering, layering — you start creating something you wouldn’t have imagined.”

Michael’s vocabulary has roots in the Abstract Expressionism of Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell and Clyfford Still, and in Mark Tobey’s calligraphic scribbles, and have the same sort of grooving street energy, mixed with fine-art finesse.

As a teacher, Michael is very skilled at helping others see new directions. He encourages pushing edges, exploring the unknown and finding the magic that comes from the process of collage making.
Michael Cutlip and Suzanne Jacquot will be giving a 3 day Mixed Media Workshop July 19, 20, 21 and it is a rare treat to have such a talented teacher and artist make this special visit to the bay area. .

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MEET GRANT TAYLOR

“I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the Heart’s affections and the truth of the Imagination.
”

— John Keats

Grant Taylor at ease

Grant Taylor is someone you would love to meet. He is full of joy, warmheartedness, and enthusiasm for life. He has been a Creative since he was a child and continues to live in the wonder and awe and curiosity he experienced in his youth. You might like to watch this short video on what Grant says about his being a photographer:

Grant studied photography at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and spent 8 years in New York City where he soaked up as much art and culture as he could. He took classes at the Art Students League, New York Academy of Art and worked at Sotheby’s as a photogrpher. Then, in his mid-thirties he moved to Santa Fe where he fell in love with the land, “Big Sky” and spaciousness.

Since his move to Santa Fe, Grant has honed his skills as a videographer by working on important documentaries on global warming and hospice and dying. And, he has developed a body of emotional photographs reflecting his own poetic views of the sky as Nature’s grand symphony, and leaves and flowers as Nature’s reminder that beauty is everywhere even in the midst of decaying.

I feel very lucky to have teamed up with Grant to create Living Your Wild Creativity. We started inspiring one another over 4 years ago creatively, spiritually, and emotionally. It has led us to sharing these gifts with others through Living Your Wild Creativity workshops and more. Grant’s keen and sensitive understanding of the subtleties of color is a special gift he brings to the workshop we do together on COLOR.

We are excited to come together to teach next month. COLOR——Moods, Rhythms, and More! February 8, 9, 10, At Studio4404, Sebastopol, CA. We are teaching it both in person and LIVE ONLINE. While our main focus will be exploring color with the heart, we also give tons of information and studio practice exercises to gain mastery of the topic. There is still room to sign up. For more information and to register:

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THE POWER AND VASTNESS OF COLOR PART 2

“I found I could say things with colors that I couldn’t say in any other way – things that I had no words for.”

— Georgia O’Keeffe

I am surrounded by the light and color of West Sonoma County. This time of year I wake up to foggy, rainy or frosty mornings…… The palette is muted, soft, veiled. I respond by feeling quiet, maybe sleepy, some loss, going inward, even peace.

Sunsets, by contrast, can be full of brilliance and intense color. Then, I feel emboldened, alive, radiant and full of excitement, joy and hope.

Color is so powerful because it evokes feelings, impressions, memories. Color fills my body, heart, mind, and spirit, and then flows into my art in its own mysterious ways.

What feelings or moods do these images
evoke in you?

Mark Rathko

Nicolas de Stahl

Stanton MacDonald Wright

Suzanne Jacquot

Felicity Keefe

Gerhard Richter

Helen Frankenthaler

Jude Wild

Lisa Boardwine

Melissa Herrington

Allison B. Cooke

To use color skillfully is an art in itself. Some artists devote their whole careers to experiencing and expressing the power of color such as Mark Rothko, Johannes Itten and Sonia Delaunay. Color at its best opens the viewer to greater depths of life.

Grant and I will be exploring COLOR: MOODS, RHYTHMS, AND MORE! in our next workshop together———February 8, 9, 10, at Studio4404, Sebastopol, CA. We invite you to come learn, discover, and create your own world through color.
To learn more and to register: www.LivingYourWildCreativity.com.

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