Keiko Tanabe: "Painting Impressions with Watercolors"

RECOMMENDED EXPERIENCE

All levels (basic knowledge & some previous experiences strongly recommended to benefit from this

workshop)

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

Do you paint everything you see, or do you paint what you feel? In this workshop, you’ll begin to see the world through a new lens—learning how to transform everyday reality into expressive, impressionistic paintings that evoke mood and atmosphere. The focus is not on replicating every detail, but on capturing the essence of your subject.

Keiko will guide you from that first spark of inspiration through a process of simplification, leading to a

compelling painting rich in composition and meaning. We’ll begin with the fundamentals: getting familiar with our materials and learning to observe with an artist’s eye.

Key topics covered in this class include:

Creating a strong preliminary drawing and composition

Exploring a range of watercolor techniques and brush handling

Understanding what makes a strong design

Mastering the relationship of light and dark values

Balancing planning with intuition

Learning how to simplify and edit complex visual information

Each day includes a live demonstration by Keiko, packed with helpful tips and insights. Reference photos will be provided for a studio workshop, and there will be ample opportunity for one-on-one guidance, individual critiques, and daily Q&A sessions.

ABOUT INSTRUCTOR

Keiko Tanabe, AWS, NWS, AIS, LPAPA. Often working en plein air, her atmospheric watercolors perfectly

capture a sense of time and place. Through her use of color, textures, and signature brushwork, Keiko’s

landscapes and cityscapes, beautifully convey both the exotic and the simple scenes of the many places she travels. Never attending art school, Keiko took only one drawing class to learn basic technical skills before she started painting in 2005. One year later, after learning basic drawing and watercolor painting skills at a local community school in San Diego, Keiko decided to paint full-time. From then on, she intensely taught herself to be fluent in watercolor painting, just as one would do to master a foreign language. Her subjects include landscape, cityscape, waterscape and interior scenes, which will be demonstrated in the workshop, using representational and impressionistic compositions. Since 2011, Keiko has completed successfully numerous workshops and live demonstrations around the world. She has 4 DVDs and several books of her art and has been featured in many art magazines.

Registration Fee: $800

Student Capacity: 15

All Levels Welcome with some experience

Register now, book your stay and more on the Book A Workshop page.