Ages 18+
The Workshop
This two-day course is designed to help students deepen their understanding of plein air painting. We will obviously be working outdoors, but other important aspects will be covered. Composition, color mixing, even what equipment is best to use will all be discussed and demonstrated.
This workshop will best serve those who have some familiarity with painting techniques, but we can accommodate beginners as well. A variety of materials will be demonstrated, both oils and watercolors, but students are encouraged to bring whatever materials they are comfortable working with, including pastels. I will be both demonstrating for the entire group, and working individually with each student. Anyone who wants to improve their skills in plein air painting is encouraged to join us.
Artist Statement
I think of my paintings as primarily a visual response to the selected environment, be it landscape, figure or still life. I want the color to be beautiful and the drawing firm and secure. The paintings are a marriage of external and internal forces – what emerges on the canvas should be a reflection of both the beauty of the world and the artist’s most inner response. Painting is a form of communication, and in part, the success of its mission is measured by the response of the viewer. I try to engage the viewer on a ground that is mutually accessible so that each of us may benefit from the exchange.
Suggested Materials & Supplies
Please bring any and all materials that you currently use and are comfortable with.
I DO recommend the following:
COLORS
Ultramarine Blue
Cobalt Blue
Alizarin Crimson
Cadmium Red Light
Cadmium Orange
Viridian Green
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Yellow Light
Titanium White
I use a lot of paint, and buy these in the large tubes. Please bring a good quality/quantity of paint.
I use Winsor Newton and Gamblin ,but use your judgment.
I use Gamsol with some Liquin as a medium.
BRUSHES
Bring plenty of Brushes
Flats, # 2,4,6,8,10&12, natural bristle, and any filberts or rounds that you usually use.
For watercolor, a wide selection of sable brushes, both flat and round.
PAINTING SURFACES
Painting surfaces; please bring a large number of smaller panels, 8-10″,9-12″,11-14″,12-16″.
Any of these sizes that you are comfortable with. Watercolor: several sheets or blocks of 140lb cold pressed paper, of a good quality.
We’ll all be doing 2-4 paintings a day, so please be ready to work quickly on a variety of surfaces. Panels are better for this work than stretched canvas, and cheaper too!
MISCELLANEOUS
A good, sturdy easel that allows you to work outside and sets up easily, painting medium, thinner, rags, paper towels, trash bag, etc. Basically anything else that you want and are comfortable with. Many artists like to use an umbrella. Don’t forget your hat, eye protection, sun screen, and water! I recommend this highly!
Instructor Bio
George Van Hook was born and raised in Abington, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. He began painting very early and was able to participate in the vibrant artistic culture of the region. The family owned a farm in Bucks County, home of the Pennsylvania impressionists, and he became heavily influenced by their fine academic training coupled with a love of the prosaic landscape. Another early local influence was the “Brandywine Tradition,” the illustrative work of Howard Pyle and the generations of Wyeths. This was further enhanced by a close association with coastal Maine. George has spent many summers painting in the mid-coast area of Rockland and Rockport Harbor, and on North Haven Island where his wife’s family owned property adjacent to the famous Boston artist Frank Benson.
Van Hook’s love of the European tradition also began early. He spent two summers during high school filmmaking throughout France and England. This allowed him to visit many of the great museums, and further increase his commitment to become a professional artist. Following college, he left for Paris and spent nearly a year copying paintings at the Louvre and traveling through France, Italy and Holland making numerous paintings en plein air. He returned to California, where he continued painting the landscape the figure outdoors.
After marriage and the start of a family, George returned to the East Coast, eventually settling in Cambridge, NY, a beautiful nineteenth century village in the Battenkill River Valley. He has painted the Battenkill River in New York and Vermont for 28 years, capturing the beauty of the fall colors, winter snowbanks, spring pastels and rich greens of lushly vegetated riverbanks, oxbows, shaded glens, bathers and fly fisherfolk. His works are in many prominent fly fishing collections connected with the nearby American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, VT.
A nationally recognized artist, Van Hook has won numerous Plein Air competitions and awards from around the country for his oils and watercolors.
Please visit his website: georgevanhookfineartist.com
