Instructor: Kevin Andrew
Date: 4/17/2025
Time: 12 pm - 3 pm
Location: Art Place Studios Classroom
Members: $150 Non-Members: $170

Give yourself a little freedom to play on a large scale. This abstract painting class will focus on painting BIG. Bigger tools, compositions, and scary techniques will be at your disposal. Acrylic paint, texture paste, scrapers, palette knives, squeegees, wetting medium, markers, and good old brushes will be used. Creating will be fast and furious during the class.

We’ll be using a real flower bouquet as a starting point for your creation. The class will begin with a brief meditation and intention conversation to get us started on the right track. I will paint while discussing different techniques, color palette considerations, and composition thoughts. I will share everything I know!

Creating a finished masterpiece is not a requirement. Getting out of your head and truly expressing something from within is. Come wade into the BIG chaos with me.

Intermediate

Supply List:
PER STUDENT

• Acrylic Paint > I will use 1 blue, 1 yellow, 1 red, white, and brown per student.
• 1x palette knife
• Bono scrappers (comes in sets of 3 usually)
• Small (~.25” - .5” width), Medium (~1” width), and Large (house wall paint style) Paintbrush
• Coldwax squeegees (Ideally 4” and 6”+ size)> Link
• Big squeegee > Link
• Some large space/tray to mix paint. I use the large 16x20” gray painting paper sheets for my palette space.
• Small trays to cover the palette so it doesn’t dry out during the session.
• Foam brush for mixing cup of water
• Black, beige, and pastel posca markers per student. Probably could share a couple sets amongst the class.

Artist Bio:
As a Lifelong Creative, I followed the right path for many years before questioning it. After obtaining undergraduate and graduate degrees in Civil Engineering, years working in IT Corporate America, and a successful Entrepreneur Business Exit, I now paint abstract artwork full time with intention and a business mindset.
Creating art is a journey to find myself.
The simplicity of Proximity creates connections that forever change the trajectory of relationships or the composition of a painting. In the co-working space I created and operated, I was driven to see how unrelated people, working in the same space, interacted, connected, and grew to produce something new together. Empowering people with opportunities and workspaces created unimaginable connections and success stories. My drive for community building remains but now is applied within the boundaries of my canvas. Connections between colors, textures, tools, and techniques in the right empowering environment produce new and unseen compositions together. Underlying Intentions ranging from life lessons to therapy sessions influence these connections.
Underneath the intention, there is a raging evolution of self-exploration. My analytical mindset (self-identified Virgo and engineer by training) is constantly at war with my creative spirit. A process driven, goal oriented effort suppresses discomfort and self-doubt while creating. My analytical self protects my monetary focused ego, but my creative spirit knows better by constantly finding ways to bring me to the breaking point.
This Tension is prevalent throughout all my artwork with a constant push/pull of control vs. intuition. Complicating further, this tension is mixed with dilemmas of internal Suppression playing out within the frame of each piece. Is it something my ego yearns for, ultimately leading to suffering, or on the path to my true self? The struggle for permission builds pressure throughout my artwork exploding in frustration at times.
When fear, frustration, and breaking points are embraced while creating, the tension-suppression-intention dance produces dynamic, energetic, and meaningful artwork I’m proud of. My creative spirit won the battle if I could not comprehend, replicate, or explain a painting I just finished. The more my creative spirit is empowered to express, the more comfortable I can create on the edge of breaking. I believe this space within my work will reveal my true self and purpose over time.
Without the encumbrances and formalities put on students through formal art education, I bring a unique skill set to my creative process from the mind of an engineer, creative, and entrepreneur. My artwork is an abstraction of sensations and emotions that connects with collectors on a visceral, relatable level. Being vulnerable and open about my work drives sales and helps me better understand my purpose.
My hope is by finding my self, I will be able to better figure out how to make a positive difference in this world.