Body, Practice and Creativity (Online Workshop) Winter 2025 w/ Sebastián Espejo
February 5 to February 19 (Wednesdays), 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Eastern Time
**All sessions are live and will be recorded, students do not have to be present. All recordings will be available to students for 3 months after the final session, after 3 months the recording will be deleted.
Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.
DEMO: https://youtu.be/C066aHgTeDc
Workshop Description
This workshop is open to all of you who enjoy painting and are interested in exploring new ways to enhance your practice. The focus of this workshop will be on the importance of our bodies and awareness while preparing to paint, painting, and while observing our work.
The approach to painting that I want to share with you views painting as an act of attention—not just when we are literally painting, but also when we are thinking about what to paint and when we are looking at a painting. Over the past five years, I have developed a daily painting practice that allows me to feel creative and paint with freshness and energy. While this is my own method and everyone has their own way of working, I believe that our body is always the main tool for building a healthy creative practice.
From this perspective, I’m proposing this workshop to provide you with practical tools to connect with your body through and with the practice of painting. Each session will include different body and sight activations to enrich our attention and concentration while we paint. This is a workshop designed to build awareness and to integrate that awareness into our practice and everyday life.
Over the course of the three sessions, we will also explore technical themes, and of course, paint together:
1. Surface: In the first session, we will build confidence in our processes by understanding
the surface on which we paint.
2. Palette: The second session will focus on color interaction and how the hues on our
palette depends on the chromatic context of the surface.
3. Context: In the third session, we will learn how to build context for our artwork, aiming to create a body of work, series, and a logical path of understanding and exploration through painting.
These three sessions are intertwined with the goal of acquiring agency over our practice through body awareness and the exploration of technical and practical themes. This approach expands our awareness of the fundamental principles of painting.
Workshop Outline
Week 1 - Surface
Introduction
Preparing the body for focus and creativity
Differentiating between long-term and condensed work
Finding inspiration
Establishing a healthy creative practice
Exploring various surfaces
Understanding absorption ratios and materials
Working with blank or filled surfaces
Using colored surfaces
The technique of painting over previous work
Week 2 - Palette
Introduction
Gaining agency in your work
Sustaining a consistent practice
Managing multiple projects simultaneously
Maintaining attention and focus
Interacting with colors
Utilizing a restricted color palette
Comparing alla prima with glazing or grisaille techniques
Week 3 - Context to Our Work
Introduction
Providing context for your work
Balancing autobiography in art
Building references and an imaginative framework
Creating a dialogue with your references
Painting as a response to various stimuli
Contributing to culture through art
Offering attention as a gift
Workshop Materials
Materials for each session:
Surfaces: An old painting that you have done and don't like. We will use it and give it new life. And any other small surface that you like (wood, paper, canvas, etc)
Paintings, basic pigments, they can be acrylic, gouache, or oils. The suggested pigments are
Viridian Green, Alizarin Crimson, Raw Umber, Ultramarine Blue, but any limited palette can work.
Just bring your favorites but bear in mind that we will work with a restricted palette.
Brushes, basic round or flat depending on your preferences.
Palette, or surface to mix colours.
February 5 to February 19 (Wednesdays), 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Eastern Time
**All sessions are live and will be recorded, students do not have to be present. All recordings will be available to students for 3 months after the final session, after 3 months the recording will be deleted.
Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.
DEMO: https://youtu.be/C066aHgTeDc
Workshop Description
This workshop is open to all of you who enjoy painting and are interested in exploring new ways to enhance your practice. The focus of this workshop will be on the importance of our bodies and awareness while preparing to paint, painting, and while observing our work.
The approach to painting that I want to share with you views painting as an act of attention—not just when we are literally painting, but also when we are thinking about what to paint and when we are looking at a painting. Over the past five years, I have developed a daily painting practice that allows me to feel creative and paint with freshness and energy. While this is my own method and everyone has their own way of working, I believe that our body is always the main tool for building a healthy creative practice.
From this perspective, I’m proposing this workshop to provide you with practical tools to connect with your body through and with the practice of painting. Each session will include different body and sight activations to enrich our attention and concentration while we paint. This is a workshop designed to build awareness and to integrate that awareness into our practice and everyday life.
Over the course of the three sessions, we will also explore technical themes, and of course, paint together:
1. Surface: In the first session, we will build confidence in our processes by understanding
the surface on which we paint.
2. Palette: The second session will focus on color interaction and how the hues on our
palette depends on the chromatic context of the surface.
3. Context: In the third session, we will learn how to build context for our artwork, aiming to create a body of work, series, and a logical path of understanding and exploration through painting.
These three sessions are intertwined with the goal of acquiring agency over our practice through body awareness and the exploration of technical and practical themes. This approach expands our awareness of the fundamental principles of painting.
Workshop Outline
Week 1 - Surface
Introduction
Preparing the body for focus and creativity
Differentiating between long-term and condensed work
Finding inspiration
Establishing a healthy creative practice
Exploring various surfaces
Understanding absorption ratios and materials
Working with blank or filled surfaces
Using colored surfaces
The technique of painting over previous work
Week 2 - Palette
Introduction
Gaining agency in your work
Sustaining a consistent practice
Managing multiple projects simultaneously
Maintaining attention and focus
Interacting with colors
Utilizing a restricted color palette
Comparing alla prima with glazing or grisaille techniques
Week 3 - Context to Our Work
Introduction
Providing context for your work
Balancing autobiography in art
Building references and an imaginative framework
Creating a dialogue with your references
Painting as a response to various stimuli
Contributing to culture through art
Offering attention as a gift
Workshop Materials
Materials for each session:
Surfaces: An old painting that you have done and don't like. We will use it and give it new life. And any other small surface that you like (wood, paper, canvas, etc)
Paintings, basic pigments, they can be acrylic, gouache, or oils. The suggested pigments are
Viridian Green, Alizarin Crimson, Raw Umber, Ultramarine Blue, but any limited palette can work.
Just bring your favorites but bear in mind that we will work with a restricted palette.
Brushes, basic round or flat depending on your preferences.
Palette, or surface to mix colours.
February 5 to February 19 (Wednesdays), 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Eastern Time
**All sessions are live and will be recorded, students do not have to be present. All recordings will be available to students for 3 months after the final session, after 3 months the recording will be deleted.
Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.
DEMO: https://youtu.be/C066aHgTeDc
Workshop Description
This workshop is open to all of you who enjoy painting and are interested in exploring new ways to enhance your practice. The focus of this workshop will be on the importance of our bodies and awareness while preparing to paint, painting, and while observing our work.
The approach to painting that I want to share with you views painting as an act of attention—not just when we are literally painting, but also when we are thinking about what to paint and when we are looking at a painting. Over the past five years, I have developed a daily painting practice that allows me to feel creative and paint with freshness and energy. While this is my own method and everyone has their own way of working, I believe that our body is always the main tool for building a healthy creative practice.
From this perspective, I’m proposing this workshop to provide you with practical tools to connect with your body through and with the practice of painting. Each session will include different body and sight activations to enrich our attention and concentration while we paint. This is a workshop designed to build awareness and to integrate that awareness into our practice and everyday life.
Over the course of the three sessions, we will also explore technical themes, and of course, paint together:
1. Surface: In the first session, we will build confidence in our processes by understanding
the surface on which we paint.
2. Palette: The second session will focus on color interaction and how the hues on our
palette depends on the chromatic context of the surface.
3. Context: In the third session, we will learn how to build context for our artwork, aiming to create a body of work, series, and a logical path of understanding and exploration through painting.
These three sessions are intertwined with the goal of acquiring agency over our practice through body awareness and the exploration of technical and practical themes. This approach expands our awareness of the fundamental principles of painting.
Workshop Outline
Week 1 - Surface
Introduction
Preparing the body for focus and creativity
Differentiating between long-term and condensed work
Finding inspiration
Establishing a healthy creative practice
Exploring various surfaces
Understanding absorption ratios and materials
Working with blank or filled surfaces
Using colored surfaces
The technique of painting over previous work
Week 2 - Palette
Introduction
Gaining agency in your work
Sustaining a consistent practice
Managing multiple projects simultaneously
Maintaining attention and focus
Interacting with colors
Utilizing a restricted color palette
Comparing alla prima with glazing or grisaille techniques
Week 3 - Context to Our Work
Introduction
Providing context for your work
Balancing autobiography in art
Building references and an imaginative framework
Creating a dialogue with your references
Painting as a response to various stimuli
Contributing to culture through art
Offering attention as a gift
Workshop Materials
Materials for each session:
Surfaces: An old painting that you have done and don't like. We will use it and give it new life. And any other small surface that you like (wood, paper, canvas, etc)
Paintings, basic pigments, they can be acrylic, gouache, or oils. The suggested pigments are
Viridian Green, Alizarin Crimson, Raw Umber, Ultramarine Blue, but any limited palette can work.
Just bring your favorites but bear in mind that we will work with a restricted palette.
Brushes, basic round or flat depending on your preferences.
Palette, or surface to mix colours.