CHARITY BAKER Charity Baker is a painter based in New York City. Formally trained in architecture she received her Bachelor of Architecture degree from Pratt Institute. In 2016, she enrolled at the New York Studio School for a Drawing Marathon with Graham Nickson and stayed through her MFA graduating in 2019. Charity makes rich and …
Tina Kraft is a talented South Florida artist with connections to our besties at the New York Studio School. It was at NYSS where we met many of our great instructors such as Fran O’Neil, Charity Baker, Catherine Lepp, Sam Wade Levy, Shruti Ghatak, and Jonathan Harkham. Our own Keith Pfieffer is currently pursuing his …
The Nancy Margolis Gallery in NY is currently displaying “Midnight Sun”, an exhibition by Seattle Artist League instructor Charity Baker. The show features figurative landscapes in both small scale plein-air and large scale studio paintings. The collection aims to examine the psychological effects of perpetual sunlight. Yearning to reconnect with nature during the global pandemic, …
All of us leave a legacy. It’s the result of what we say, what we do, the art we make. We leave our fingerprints on this world, and there’s a bit of soul left in them. Today I’d like to share the work of one of our students, and delve a bit not just into …
Welcome to Day 2 of the 30SAL Challenge! To learn more about the 30SAL Challenge, click here. Today’s 30SAL Challenge is a creative idea from Seattle Artist League instructor Charity Baker. First, tone a piece of paper as dark as you can with soft willow charcoal. You might find that paper with some tooth or …
Here’s an idea for something to draw: throw your jacket on a chair. Now you have a still life, a portrait, and a landscape. *Quoted from Charity Baker’s “Museum Crawl” class featuring Cezanne’s show of drawings in NY
Contemporary Painting
- Teacher: Charity Baker
- Class Length: 8 sessions
- Class Days: Weekly on Tuesdays, beginning January 30
- Time: 6:00PM – 9:00PM (PDT)
CONTEMPORARY PAINTING
Students are encouraged to explore their individual artistic voices and perspectives to investigate what contributes to a “powerful image”. This online class offers a focused curriculum comprising life study, art history, color theory, and diverse painting techniques.
Discussion and practice will be linked to the foundations of representational art while also embracing modern trends and concepts in contemporary art. This dual approach exposes students to a broad spectrum of artistic styles and influences, fostering a dynamic and diverse approaches to explore contemporary painting.
MATERIALS:
PAINT
Artist’s choice: Oil or acrylic paints
Recommended economical brands in oil are: Gamblin, M.Graham Co., RGH Paints, Utrecht.
- titanium white
- titanium buff
- cad yellow light
- cad red light
- yellow ochre
- magenta
- ultramarine blue
- terra verte (green earth)
- caput mortuum (Violet Oxide, or Spanish Earth)
- Raw Umber
- Ivory Black
PAINTING SURFACES For each class we will work on one or two paintings in a suggested small or
medium size. Below is a choice of three different approaches to making painting surfaces including a
very economical choice of using paper. I will always encourage you to choose the size you want to use
per project, so that you can enjoy the experience to the fullest.
1. Gessoed Paper (optional: with a Gloss Medium coating) is an economic option
2. Stretched Canvases: suggested sizes
(4) 11×15; or 9” x 12”
(4) 18×24; or 20” x 24”
(2) 30X30”, OR 24×30”
3. Roll of primed canvas: Dick Blick Cotton Canvas By the Yard – 12 oz, Acrylic Primed (64-1/2'' W x
6 yd) in which you can cut to size as you go.
TOOLS AND OTHER
● selection of brushes, large, med and small in round shape only
● Palette (choose one of the following)
– Handheld wooden
– Paper, disposable
– Glass, resting on white surface
● Paint rags (can be old t-shirts) or-/ Good quality paper towels
● Palette knife
● Solvent (odorless mineral spirits)
● Baby oil or Mineral oil to clean brushes
● if using acrylics, containers for paint and water
● an easel, wall, or board upon which to attach the canvas
DRAWING SUPPLIES
● small to medium sized sketchbook (recommended)
● pencils/charcoal, eraser
We use the Zoom platform for online classes. Login codes are sent prior to the first class only. Some email systems such as Hotmail block our emails to you. Please check your junk folders, and if you have have not received your class info, please contact us (contact@seattleartistleague.com) 15-30 minutes before your class begins so we can reply with the login codes. We will get you into your class.
Drawing for Busy People
- Teacher: Charity Baker
- Class Length: 8 Weeks
- Days: Wednesday, beginning January 31
- Time: 5:00-6:30 pm PST
Too busy to take a class? Not anymore!
Drawing is a great way to focus and relax the mind. While many art classes take space and time to get set up, create, then clean up, it only takes a few minutes to grab a pencil and draw, and you can do it anywhere!
We’ve modified our beginning drawing course to give you the basics of line, form, tone, proportion, composition, gesture, movement, and expression. This is a drawing class designed to allow you to sample a wide variety of artistic styles and approaches, so that you can develop your observational skills while also discovering your own personal voice. Even by drawing for 10 minutes a day, you will gain greater confidence in your abilities, and deepen your artistic perception, as well as fostering a new appreciation for the world around you.
We will work from observation (looking at stuff) and work with various styles and approaches for discovery, exploration, and expression. There will be homework, but if the only time you have to draw is during this class, you will be fine.
NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. This beginning drawing class is a great primer for figure drawing, beginning painting, printmaking, or anyone who wants to get past the intimidation factor of drawing and increase their basic skills.
Suggested Materials:
Bring what you have. The list below is suggested, but not necessary. Pencil and paper will always be fabulous.
- Soft Willow Charcoal
- Pencils: HB and 6B or 8B
- Charcoal pencil: 6B or 8B / soft or super soft
- Strathmore 300 series drawing pad (yellow pad with top spiral bind, product code 340-318). At the school studio we use 18×24″ but home studios can be a bit less spacious. Get the largest size your work station will accommodate. 14×17″ is great.
- Newsprint. Get the largest size your work station will accommodate.
- Drawing board may be helpful to hold paper at an angle while you sit at a desk
- White vinyl/plastic eraser
- Chamois cloth- small
- Pencil sharpener
Optional:
- Conte stick – brown or black
- Sketchbook (optional)
- Large kneaded eraser (optional)
- Pens
The League has two different Friday portrait classes this summer. Which one would you rather be in? Would you rather…. Combine drawings from live models with studies from art history? …or study a variety of ages, expressions, and faces? Would you rather…. Add meaningful elements from imagination and intuition? Or measure and exaggerate to pull …