Phil Starke Art Talk

Well, I’ve plunged into the world of teaching online art classes.   I’ve been asked numerous times about doing this so I took some time and looked around at what was being offered in the area of online art classes and decided I wanted to offer something that would be more art school-like in content and approach, taking the artist who wants to work consistently and effectively, has goals and helping them achieve them.  I also wanted to be able to work with video, but make sure the student was able to download that video so they could save their lessons making it possible to work at their own pace and go back to the lessons again to review what they’ve learned, creating a great reference library of their own.  I also wanted to be able to provide an effective way to handle critiques, and make them available to keep as well.  So beginning August 2, 2009, its official.  Online class video lessons begin going out and my one-on-one student critiques will be starting up as well.  I’m anxious to see the student development and working with each one of them.  Technology is amazing.

I just finished teaching a 3-day workshop here in Tucson for the Tucson Art Academy.  We painted in the Catalina State Park, full of mountains, washes and cottonwoods.  We painted a model in the courtyard of an old Spanish style church and at the ruins of Tumacacori Mission. 

Teaching forces me to carefully think about my painting process.  First, to consider what the most important part of that process is, then to simplify it and make it understandable.  Painting is simple, as far as shapes, values and color, but not easy.

Teaching keeps me from straying too far from the essential or basic parts of painting.  I probably end up teaching myself more than students.  If you’d like more information about the Tucson Art Academy, you can visit their website at www.tucsonartacademy.com.

I just finished a 5 day, outdoor workshop here in Tucson, AZ for the Scottsdale Artist School.  We had artists from all over the map — northern Canada, New Jersey, Colorado, California and a couple from Tucson and Phoenix.

My goal was to get across the idea of small, timed studies that took about an hour to an hour and a half, and with in that time have the four planes blocked in and the right relationships of value and temperature.  Each day we covered a different location with a different type of subject matter.

I believe everyone came away with ideas on how to practice and have goals on where to take their painting.