To enroll in a workshop or class please send a check made out to Tom Hoffmann for half the tuition. Be sure to write the name of the class or workshop on the check. Deposit is fully refundable up to thirty days before the start of the workshop or class. Please note that enrollment at the Portland workshop is through the Oregon Society of Artists.
We intend to adjust to difficult or dangerous conditions by following current best practices. By enrolling in a class or workshop you are taking full responsibility for your health and safety.
Mail to:
Tom Hoffmann | 308 32nd Avenue | Seattle, WA 98122
All Levels Watercolor Classes
Fall September 14th – November 16th Wednesdays, 1pm to 4pm Tuition:$500
This all levels class is full.
A small class setting allows plenty of one-on-one attention and a robust exchange of ideas within the group. Each session begins with a critique. Homework is provided via Tom’s blog.
The Path to Abstraction in Watercolor
3- day workshop
Friday – Sunday, October 7th – 9th, 2022
Enrollment through Oregon Society of Art
Realist painters, used to working from external sources, often find it difficult to generate abstract compositions. When they have a photo, a live model, a still life set-up, or a plein air location to refer to, they can simply look from the source to the painting and make any necessary changes. But where do you look if all your images come from inside your own imagination? Isn’t it arbitrary? No, as it draws on familiar resources you use whenever you paint. For example, Tom will show you how to generate serenity by looking at what you already know about color theory. In this workshop, participants will ask the questions that open the path to abstraction. How are the colors distributed on the page? Are all the shapes the same size? Is this symmetry deliberate? What if the warm and the cool colors were allowed to merge? Hard or soft edges? Form or content? You ask the questions; the painting gives you the answers.
Lopez Island
4-day workshop
Friday–Monday, August 12–15, 2022
Tuition $440
My very first workshop was on Lopez, thirty years ago. There’s a lot to be said for knowing a location well, and a lot to to be said for workshops. By the end of the fourth day of painting all day, a strong feeling of confidence arises. We learn to trust our instincts, and develop a feel for when it’s time to stop. Lopez Island is a great place to translate the visible world into the language of washes and strokes. You’ll see.
The Lopez Island workshop will be attended in person. THE WORKSHOP IS FULL. CONTACT TOM TO BE PLACED ON THE WAITLIST
Skagit Valley , Fir Island
4-day workshop
August 5–8, 2022
Tuition: $440
To painters, farm buildings are a guilty pleasure. So corny, but so much fun! What do you say we all put on our Groucho glasses and go to the Skagit Flats for some shameless indulgence? Fir Island and the Bow-Edison area are home to some world class barns, many with mountains or abrupt hills in the background. These buildings won’t be here forever. We can think of it as a historical endeavor.
THIS CLASS IS FULL. TO BE PLACED ON THE WAITLIST PLEASE CONTACT TOM
The Methow Valley
4-day workshop
Fri–Mon, September 30–October 3, 2022
Tuition: $440
Why are some places easier to paint than most? In the Methow, it may be that the dramatic landscape is more readily seen as shape, color and value, while the human-made elements retreat in comparison. In any case, much of the painter’s work seems already done. The hard part is deciding which way to face. In four days, workshop participants discover new ways to refine and enliven their work by letting go of the optional information and accentuating the essential.
The Methow Valley workshop will be attended in person
THE METHOW VALLEY WORKSHOP IS FULL. PLEASE CONTACT TOM TO BE PLACED ON THE WAITLIST
