Introducing Guest Instructor Kimberly Kent

I’ll be teaching outside of Oregon so much this summer that I have time to invite a couple of guest artists to teach in my studio. The first I’ll introduce you to is my friend Kimberly Kent, who has been working in encaustic for many years and is an expert with color. If you’ve taken one of my classes you probably heard my joke that Kimberly could mix plaid! OK, I didn’t say it was a good joke, but it’s true.

Kimberly and I also have a connection with my roots in Hawaii, so we often share music, food and drink (!) of the islands. She began painting in 1983 in Kona, studying, teaching and selling her work in a local studio/gallery.  The journey of art making has taken her through many media and more than 12 countries. She paints in oil, mixed media and encaustic and is currently breaking new ground painting encaustic en plein air. More on that below…

Expanding Your Encaustic Color Palette
Next Date TBD. Check the web site for details (below)

Creating a color wheel in encaustic

In this excellent companion to my Making Your Own Paint class, Kimberly will help you expand your encaustic palette while you develop your color sensibility. Learn to mix, glaze and see color better. The exercises and techniques in this class will give you new tools for understanding how to mix just the color you need. Each student will mix a full range of colors from basic colors and leave class with a traditional color wheel and charts to use for future reference. The class will be taught in encaustic, with a set of basic mixing colors. All supplies and tools will be provided.

Encaustic Landscapes en Plein Air
Thursday, May 13, 5 pm – 9 pm, $95

Painting outside en plein air

The term en plein air comes from the French, “in the open air” and that’s just how you’ll paint in this class using a camping stove to heat your paint and a torch for fusing. The technique refers to landscape painting completed on site, in a natural setting. With the right tools and techniques you can paint in encaustic in the field. A plein air painting concentrates details on colors and the play of light and shadow. You’ll begin with large shapes and blocks of color tones while keeping in mind the lights and shadows. Most plein air artists start in this way and quickly lay out the entire painting. At first it may look like an abstract work, but  slowly you’ll add detail to your painting until you have captured the essence of the scene before you. Treat yourself to this new way of seeing your world.

Values & Veiling
Next Date TBD. Check the web site for details (below)

Learn to see colors as values for a richer palette

This class is designed as the next step in expanding your use of color in encaustic. Kimberly will have you start  with some basic exercises to help you see your colors as values, exploring the use of shadows, darkness, contrasts and light. Using simple compositions you will put this knowledge to work. She will borrow techniques from other art forms and adapt them to work with encaustic. Composition, value,  and color theory techniques will help you bring your work to the next level.

Veiling with layers of translucent color can produce amazing results. You will play with veiling and layering to create depth, distance and interest in our paintings. All supplies and tools will be provided.

I hope to see some of you in these new classes! as always, you can see my full schedule of classes within Oregon and around the US and Canada this summer on the Embracing Encaustic web site.