Saturday May 2nd 9am-3pm

Hartson Gallery-Upstairs or outside in Sculpture Garden

Newburyport Art 

65 Water St
Newburyport, MA 01950

Landscape Painting Essentials — One-Day Intensive

Immerse yourself in a full day of focused landscape painting instruction designed to accelerate your skills and deepen your understanding of the fundamentals. Perfect for both oil and acrylic painters, this one-day intensive distills the essential principles of landscape painting—composition, value, color harmony, atmospheric perspective, and brushwork—into a dynamic, hands-on experience.

Through a combination of demonstration, guided exercises, and personalized coaching, you’ll learn how to simplify a scene, establish strong value structure, mix naturalistic colors, and develop depth and mood in your work. The day culminates in creating a finished or nearly finished landscape painting, moving step-by-step from initial block-in to final touches.

Ideal for beginners looking to build confidence or experienced painters seeking a concentrated refresher, this intensive offers an energizing, supportive environment designed to elevate your technique in just one day. Bring your own reference images or choose from provided options—acrylic and oil painters are equally welcome.

The session may take place (in part) on the second-floor Hartson Gallery at 65 Water St, Newburyport, MA 01950. Please note that this workshop space is accessible only by stairs. If you anticipate this being a problem for you, please email us at naa@newburyportart.org 

 

Materials to bring:

Paint
I always advise those looking for a palette strategy to defer to the most popular palette philosophy of the historic masters;
"A Split Primary Palette": Two reds, Two yellows and Two blues. A warm and a cool versions of each, plus white and a few alternative colors that are optional. Here is what I use:

(1) Titanium White
Alkyd White (Important under painting color) Alkyd is quick dry paint. For brands I like Winsor and Newton Griffin Alkyd Titanium White.
(2) Cad Yellow medium
(3) Yellow ochre
(4) Alizeran Crimson Permanent
(5) Cadmium Red Medium
(6) Ultramarine Blue
(7) Cerulean Blue
(8) Sap Green
(9) Raw umber
(10) Ivory Black...Yup!..Dont get me started.

Painting surface
Canvas panel or gessoed primed wood panel. oil primed panels are great too. Feel free to use canvas or linen if you like but avoid the cheap , toothy canvas. I personally use oil primed wood panels...I recommend (8x10”) or (9x12”) size.

Brushes
*Assortment of bristle brushes (I suggest large, medium and small in two styles: Flats and Filberts. I mostly use Robert Simmons Signet series flats #4, #6 and #10)
*Assortment of synthetic flats and or filberts for glazing color.
*Small synthetic rounds for details. (I suggest Winsor and Newton Septre Gold 2 in the 404 series...size 4 and / or size 6)

Other
* Trowel type Pallet knife
* liquin and pallet cup
* Gamsol (Turpentine substitute) with container or medium glass jar (No turps aloud in studio, sorry, please use Gamsol.
* paper towels (Blue shop towels are the best)
* Soft pencil, kneaded eraser. I like charcoal pencils (4b) easy to erase.
* A Veiwfinder: Important! Whether homemade or store bought, it must be adjustable or proportionate to your canvas. Viewcatcher is ideal.
* Ruby Beholder (This is a quilters tool, a simple red piece of plastic used to see values, Amazon.com has them)
* Artist paint box for supplies
* Wet paint carrier. I love the PanelPaks...they are lightweight and convenient or you could use a pizza box.

Cost:

• NAA Members: $75
• Non-members: $95
• 10% discount offered to seniors (ages 65+)

Todd Bonita Bio

After graduating from the Art Institute of Boston, I continued study of classical painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, until returning home in 2004, where I currently live and maintain an oil painting studio in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I love painting plein air equally as much as crafting more involved compositions in my studio. Above all, I love the process and simple joy of being with my tools and creating. My work is represented by ten art galleries around the US, Canada and UK., exhibited in four Art museums and is in hundreds of corporate and private collections world wide, including 41st U.S. President, George H. W. Bush. I currently own the Todd Bonita Art Gallery in both Ogunquit, Maine and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as well as the Ogunquit Art Colony School, where I teach painting classes and International art workshops year round.

This workshop is eligibile for the Kevin Quinan Memorial Scholarship for emerging oil painters age 60 and older. Read more below and please indicate if you are interested in being considered for the scholarship.

The Kevin Quinan Memorial Scholarship is intended to benefit an adult emerging oil painter in their effort to build confidence and aptitude as a painter, by removing the initial financial roadblocks that can discourage the embrace of a new venture. The scholarship is established to honor the memory of Kevin Quinan, who began painting at age 70 and continued until his death at age 78. Painting in his later years gave him great pleasure and a sense of accomplishment, as he learned the daunting task of creating works of art from a blank canvas. He was courageous in doing so, and found an excellent teacher with whom he studied painting continuously. It was his wish that others would be supported in their early stages as he was, and that classes at the Newburyport Art Association would enable emerging artists to embrace painting as he did, making it a cornerstone of his later life.

The Scholarship will fund the cost of tuition and materials at a Newburyport Art Association oil painting class, for an oil painter aged sixty and above, in their first two years of study. The Scholarship will be awarded to one or more students per class, based on the application. The applications will be reviewed by Kevin’s widow and his daughter, with input from the Newburyport Art Association staff.

This class is capped at 14 people. It has a minimum of 6 to run.

By completing this registration form, you agree to the following cancellation and refund schedule:

• Within 2 days of the registered session: 0% refund
• Between 2 days and 2 weeks: 50% refund
• More than 2 weeks: 100% refund

The NAA reserves the right to cancel this class if necessary. In the event that the NAA cancels the class, all registrants will be refunded in full.