Gordon Studer | Unveiling Compostion: Discover the Masterpiece Within Your Art

Workshop: Unveiling Composition

Instructor: Gordon Studer

Dates: October 23-26, 2025

Days: 4

Hours: 10:00 AM PDT - 4:00 PM PDT

Level: All

Tuition: $1700

Lunch: Complimentary lunch provided in studio daily.

Supplies: Not Included

What to Expect

Cultivate a discerning eye and discover the hidden gems in your own artwork, including the art of creating dynamic compositions through multiples.

1. Creating dynamic compositions through multiples: Explore the techniques of arranging, juxtaposing, and harmonizing different elements to create visually captivating and powerful compositions using multiple pieces.

2. Building a strong foundation: Dive into techniques for creating a solid artistic base and experimenting with mixed media.

3. Understanding value and color: Unleash the power of colors and shades to bring your art to life and create visually engaging compositions.

4. Embracing creative flow: Break free from limitations and allow your art to flow effortlessly, setting the stage for compositions with multiple pieces.

5. Making your mark: Master the art of expressive brushstrokes and unique mark-making techniques to add depth and character to your artwork.

6. Developing an editor's eye: Train yourself to recognize the strengths and highlights of your art, honing your ability to identify what works best.

7. Achieving artistic satisfaction: Learn strategies for finishing your pieces and feeling a sense of fulfillment and confidence.

Designed For

Whether you're a novice or an experienced artist, this 4 day workshop is designed to refine your artistic vision, elevate your work to new heights, and unlock the creative possibilities that arise from creating compositions through multiples.

Creative Style

Gordon Studer’s earthy, confident abstracts are rooted in his discipline as an award-winning commercial illustrator, lending his work a strong, graphic cadence. The result speaks to liminal experience, interstitial time, and dreamscapes in deliberate forms in black atop a palette of ochre, sky blue, and crushed clays. Having studied fine art at Penn State, he went on to teach at the California College of the Arts, and enjoyed a 25 year career telling visual stories for Fortune 500 corporate clients and major media outlets. His background is evident as he applies an intentionality to his paintings, delivering on a specific narrative, inviting the viewer to a purposeful encounter. Based in Sausalito, California, he once experienced a bout of complete amnesia, allowing him to refresh his perception of the natural world and question concepts such as imagination, dream, and recollection.

Workshop Goals

1. Developing Your Eye:

Emphasize the importance of cultivating your artistic eye and intuition over strictly following rules.

2. Know Your Creative Identity:

Understand your strengths and challenges as an artist.

Identify where you often get stuck in your process.

The "golden sauce" = Combine what challenges you with what you're naturally good at.

Develop techniques to overcome obstacles.

3.Contrast Differences and Value: Explore how contrasting elements impact the overall composition and perception of your work, and how these contrasts enhance value.

4. Seeing Color as Value: Understand the importance of perceiving color in terms of value.

Supply List

• Paints: Acrylic paints of your choice (minimum 4 oz). Suggested set: Liquitex BASICS Acrylic Paint Set of 12, 4 oz. Tubes or a set with comparable colors. (Packing size: 9.5" x 7" x 3.125")

• Panels: 8 Pack Wood Panels, 10" x 10" (Packing size: 10" x 10" x 6.5")

• Brushes: Suggested set: U.S. Art Supply Variety Pack of Paint Brushes

• Scraper: Messermeister Silicone Bowl Scraper

• H2O Oil Pastels: Suggested sets: Sargent Art Water Soluble Oil Pastels Set or Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Aquarelle Water-Soluble Pastels

• Straight Edge: Multi-Purpose Straight Edge Paint Guide, 12-inch

• Brayer Roller

• Palette Paper

• Medium of Your Choice (gloss, semi-gloss, satin, or matte)

• Pencils

• Mark-Making Tools

• Optional: Collage Material Stencils

  
  

Instructor Info

www.gordonstuder.com

instagram.com/gordonstuder