Beautiful Landscape: Painting Outdoors with Michael Chesley Johnson

Regrettably, this workshop has been postponed to a future date, please stay tuned!

About the Workshop

Skill level: Experienced beginners through advanced

Materials used: Any traditional medium is accepted such as pastel, oil, gouache, or acrylic. Please no watercolor.

Workshop description: In this four-day workshop, Michael will share Plein air painting fundamentals and demonstrate his method for “capturing the moment” quickly and efficiently but without sacrificing mood and magic. He will show you how focusing on value and color temperature in an initial “best guess” will get you started quickly, leaving plenty of time for making adjustments at a more leisurely pace.

Each day, we will start off in the studio for a lecture. After, we will head to the field where Michael will demonstrate. Time permitting before lunch, students will get started on their own paintings. Following lunch, students will continue to paint with Michael going from easel to easel offering help. At the end of the day, we will return to the studio to review our work and have critiques.

Tops covered: Working with the time factor and other issues specific to Plein air painting, choosing a location and subject, exploring designs with thumbnail value sketches, color harmony in the landscape, understanding color temperature with a goal of “capturing the moment” and how to finish a painting. Also, how to paint trees, rocks and water successfully.

Michael Chesley Johnson works in oil, pastel, and gouache in the American Southwest, coastal Maine, and the Canadian Maritimes. He has been an invited artist to many national plein air painting events over the years and has competed in challenging locations such as the Grand Canyon.

Elected a Master Pastellist by Pastel Artists Canada in 2008, he is a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society, the Pastel Society of America, and the Pastel Society of New Mexico. He is the author of Beautiful Landscape Painting Outdoors: Mastering Plein Air, among several other art instruction books (all available from Amazon.) A long-time contributor to Pastel Journal, The Artist’s Magazine, and Watercolor Artist, he lives, paints, and teaches in Downeast Maine and the high desert of New Mexico.

“Santa Fe Capella” by Michael Chesley Johnson

Michael also specializes in teaching small-size plein air workshops in oil and pastel for intermediate and advanced-level painters and for painters desiring mentoring. His painting retreats at special places, such as Scotland, have been very popular.
Michael’s long-time mentor was Ann Templeton, who counted among her mentors Sergei Bongart and William F. Reese, until her passing in 2011. Michael has also studied with Albert Handell, Doug Dawson, Bob Rohm, Lois Griffel, and others.

visit michael's website

What’s Included

Every workshop at Bluebird Studios includes a mix of complimentary food and beverages. Included are the following:

Ice breaker with non-alcoholic beverages and appetizers to set up gear and get a briefing of the week.
Complimentary continental breakfast each morning: Yogurt, fruit, coffee, teas, juices, hard-boiled eggs, and pastries
Coffee, hot and/or iced tea, lemonade, soft drinks, sparkling waters, and fruit-infused still water available all day
Catered lunch brought into the studio or painting location for $15 each day (optional)
Complimentary afternoon treats
Complimentary lunch of chili Frito pie on the last day with a veggie platter

Supplies

Coming soon!