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Workshops
For our 2024/25 season, we will be hosting 4 workshops. Mark your calendar! The dates are October 22nd, January 21st, March 18th and May 20th 2025. Check back later for details of workshop artist, subject, media and costs.
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Big thanks to Eileen Williamson who provided us with a super workshop on October 22nd!
Maple Bay Painters is pleased to start its 2024/25 workshop season with Eileen Williamson on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eileen is a Canadian artist known for her bold landscape paintings. Before moving to Vancouver Island in the early 90s, Eileen had completed a graphics art program, then studied at the Kootenay Summer School of the Arts. It was shortly after that when she turned her talents towards landscape painting in acrylic and oils, showing her work in both solo and group shows. Since settling on the Island, Eileen has immersed herself in the arts community, living now in Nanaimo and being a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. Much of Eileen’s work has evolved from plein air sketching. On her artist’s journey, she has worked as a painter, writer, muralist, set designer, illustrator, art instructor and photographer, even as a darkroom technician. While competent in various media, Eileen prefers to paint in acrylics as they allow for spontaneous and immediate results.
Eileen’s October 22nd workshop will be an acrylics workshop. More details may follow but registration is open now, for members up to October 7th, after which registrations will open to non-members, to a total of 12 participants. The cost is $55 for members and $65 for non-members. More information and a materials list will be sent to you once you have registered. To inquire how to register and pay or to ask questions, email to info@maplebaypainters.ca.
See Eileen's website for more information at: https://www.eileenwilliamson-artist.com/
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To register, note your interest, or ask questions about any of the workshops hosted by Maple Bay Painters, email us at: info@maplebaypainters.ca Once registered, a materials list and other information will be provided to you. Unless otherwise noted, our workshop location is the Stratford Room at the Cowichan Exhibition grounds. Workshops run from 9:30 am to 3 pm, on a Tuesday.
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Thank you Sue for providing us with a terrific portraits workshop!!!
On Tuesday, May 21st, Maple Bay Painters will host its last workshop of the 2023/24 season. Artist Sue Fenwick will guide participants through the painting of a portrait, whether in oil, acrylic, watercolour, pastel, graphite, or pen and ink and regardless of your level of experience. Sue is versatile, and she brings experience painting in a variety of media and different subjects, including portraits.
The aim of this workshop is to assist you in the creation of a portrait and build a foundation on which a portrait of an adult can be based. In brief, Sue will help you decide the position the portrait on your canvas or paper and share how to transfer your reference photo to your painting surface. She will help you consider the three-dimensional shape of an oval face, understand the placement of facial features, recognize facial planes and shadows, use negative space to define the head and face, and see hard and disappearing lines, along with providing her advice for colour-mixing and treatment of hair and clothing. Note that, for reasons of time, the workshop will focus only on adult faces, not children’s, which present different considerations.
Workshop registration is now open for Maple Bay Painter members and, after May 7th, for non-members to a maximum of 12 participants. The fee is $55 for members and $65 for non-members.
To register or ask questions, email info@maplebaypainters.ca. Once your registration is confirmed, directions for payment and a material list will be provided to you.
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Update: Thank you Tom Shardlow for your well-attended landscape workshop in March!
Maple Bay Painters is offering another acrylic landscape workshop with Tom Shardlow, AFCA, back by popular demand! We hosted Tom last year, and participants wanted him back! So mark your calendar for Tuesday, March 19th, and register now at info@maplebaypainters.ca The cost to members is just $55 and for non-members, $65, with a maximum of 12 participants. NOTE: To support its art education goals and keep workshops affordable, the Maple Bay Painters' executive are now subsidizing the cost to bring in experienced workshop instructors.
For those who missed last year's workshop, here are a few of Tom's words describing it:
"Painting can be one of the most difficult and complex of undertakings. There is a plethora of rules, all of which can be broken. However, keeping it simple can cut through the confusion and produce rewarding results. This one-day workshop will focus on simplification to develop both strong design and appealing variation. We’ll work slowly through the various stages while building your painting on a black gesso ground."
Learn more about Tom and his work on his website at: https://www.tomshardlow.com/
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Update: A huge thank-you to Elissa Anthony and everyone one who attended our January workshop! It was a super!
We’re pleased to announce that artist, Elissa Anthony, will lead Maple Bay Painters’ next workshop on January 16th, 2024. Her work may be seen in galleries here on Vancouver Island, such as the Village Gallery in Sidney and the Rainforest Gallery in Chemainus. You may also know Elissa, as many collectors across Canada do, for her vibrant landscapes, among many other subjects and locations, but especially of Vancouver Island, whose beauty has continually inspired her work.
Having recently relocated to Ladysmith, Elissa has agreed to lead a workshop for us. She will guide participants through painting a coastal landscape with a big sky emphasis. Elissa’s approach will allow considerable flexibility for participants’ own compositional preferences and will be suitable for either acrylic or oil painters to a maximum of 12 participants.
Registration is now closed. A materials list will be provided in December to confirmed participants.
To be wait-listed for this workshop or if you have questions, email info@maplebaypainters.ca
Learn more about Elissa and her work at: https://elissa-anthony.pixels.com/
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Update: Thank you Carolyn! Your workshop was terrific!
On Tuesday, October 17th, join acrylic artist, Carolyn McDonald, well-known for her colourful, abstracted landscapes among other subjects. Over a 6-hour workshop, she will lead you into bolder techniques for creating representational or figurative paintings. Participants will work in acrylics to create a painting of their own, using reference photos and distilling an image of your choice to improve composition and focus on what is most important. Carolyn will share processes for how she abstracts parts of her paintings and help you add originality and impact to your own, using a combination of abstraction and realism to make a painting more powerful and, importantly, develop a style of your own.
Registration for this workshop is now open for members until October 2nd, and thereafter will be open to non-members, as seats allow, to a maximum of 12 participants. The fee is $50 for members, and $60 for non-members. To register or ask questions, email info@maplebaypainters.ca. A list of recommended materials for the workshop will be emailed to you, once registered.
Carolyn is a recent member to the Maple Bay Painters. She grew up in a small town in Jamaica, where she returns often to teach and paint. She earned a Fine Arts degree and a Canadian teaching certificate, was the head of a high school art department in Jamaica and taught in Ontario. Carolyn has exhibited in Canada, Jamaica and Puerto Rico and has given workshops on teaching art and, with the Art Starts program, has worked as an in-school artist.
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A big thank you to Nanaimo artist, Tom Shardlow, AFCA, who provided Maple Bay Painters with a fantastic acrylic workshop, called "Keeping it Simple", on April 18th. Participants enjoyed it so much that Tom has agreed to come back and do it again sometime in early 2024! So stayed tuned for when a date is confirmed or if you'd like to go on a wait list for it.
For those who missed the April workshop, here are a few of Tom's words describing it:
"Painting can be one of the most difficult and complex of undertakings. There is a plethora of rules, all of which can be broken. However, keeping it simple can cut through the confusion and produce rewarding results. This one-day workshop will focus on simplification to develop both strong design and appealing variation. We’ll work slowly through the various stages while building your painting on a black gesso ground."
Learn more about Tom and his work on his website at: https://www.tomshardlow.com/
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A big thank you to our last workshop artist, Zann Hemphill, who provided us with a fantastic 'Painting Animals' workshop on January 17th. She truly inspired everyone on their creative journeys!
Thank you Zann!
In this workshop, Zann guided participants toward more successful paintings. She led us through the creation of a small painting, using photographs of our own favourite animal subject as reference, whether a beloved pet (past or present), a friend’s, or “anything with fur or feathers, paws or scales”! To learn more about Zann and her work, visit her website and blog, with videos, at www.pawsbyzann.com/
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Thank you to Roger 
Jackson for his November 22nd Still Life workshop! Roger is currently the President of Maple Bay Painters and has a lot of experience painting and running workshops in the Cowichan Valley, as well as being a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. See more about Roger and his art at: https://www.rogerjackson.ca/
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Thank you to Nanaimo artist, Sara Robichaud, for her September 20th demonstration of Golden's acrylic products at our September 20th meeting. It was super, especially with participants receiving free samples of Golden products.
Some previous workshop images:
