Join Dan Marshall AWS LPAPA for this exciting class! Dan has now established himself as one of our most dynamic regulars…his energy and enthusiasm permeate his work, his ability to connect with students and his teaching skills.
Full of detailed information about creating a good painting, Dan is a pleasure to work with. His sense of humor and bright energy make his class fun all week and his students continually give him excellent reviews. We’re glad he’s back!
A most accomplished painter
Dan will focus on composition, design, consistency of wash and proper use of tone to help you elevate your watercolors to fine art paintings! He’ll use his skills to help you further yours to establish a consistent painting process. Learn how to exploit “mistakes”, refine and further develop your technique and take your paintings to the next level…He’ll work you hard and you’ll have fun…his high spirits are contagious!
Dan will use his skills to help you further yours so you can establish a consistent painting process, refining and further developing your technique and take your paintings to the next level.
Dan will focus on some “How To” skills:
Drawing for your painting. rhythmically, with “a loose accuracy” so you paint your painting, instead of just coloring in your drawings…
Keeping connectivity and color harmony working for you…
Using varying consistencies of pigment in relation to degrees of wetness in the paper…Using different types of edges to create visual interest…
Using subtle shifts in value and temperature to create depth… 
In Dan’s words:
“Learning how to incorporate a deliberate process for creating realistic but expressive watercolor paintings and having a consistent process, enables you to relax and tap into your creativity. Thinking your paintings through and holding in your mind a pre-visualization of the finished piece allows you to know in advance the steps to success and the freedom to adapt to “mistakes” Plein air watercolor requires you to simplify- focus on the mood, find your subject and simplify shapes and details, This approach will allow you to make design decisions without being bogged down in detail too early in the process. Using tried and true design and composition ideas to take your work to the next level helps you create stronger paintings by editing what you see. Then you stop simply transcribing a scene and start to create from your own personal vision!”
Dan has been featured on the OutdoorPainter.com podcast with Eric Rhodes and as an Artist to Watch in a 2018 issue of Southwest Art Magazine. Born in New Jersey in 1971, reared in Ohio and finishing his education in Connecticut at the Propersi Institute of Art, Dan is used to adapting to different environs. As a successful tattoo artist, he has been fortunate to extend his travel experiences all over the world. A long time student of renowned artist Joseph Zbukvic, Dan is an avid Plein Air painter, producing the majority of his work on site, adapting to the varied scenery he’s encountered in his travels. Painting plein air has helped him develop a confident style with an immediacy and freshness infused into each painting. Dan has currently lives in Denver, Co with his wife, Madoka and French bulldog, Mogu. He works in his own studio gallery & private tattoo space, Atelier 71. Over 20 years of drawing daily for tattoo clients has sharpened his skills as a draftsman; studying with Joseph has elevated his techniques in watercolor. Dan is constantly researching his influences (Sargent, Galien-Laloue, Cortes, Loir, Schmid, Cornwall, Workman) and continuing to experiment as he hones his personal style.
Some General Class Information:
- We‘ll process your payment after we get your online Registration and will email you a receipt. A $300 deposit will hold your space. Cancellation and Refund info is at the bottom of the Registration Form…(please do read the Policies before you check that you have!)
- We’ll send a Supply List and more detailed info after you Register, and again about 2 weeks before the class. Print and tuck into your painting kit…then you’ll know where to find it all! It has the answers to most of your questions!
- If you will need mediums, let me know and I will have them here for you to buy when you get to class. You are also welcome to ship materials to arrive the week before…ask about details!
- The first day, the Studio will open at 8:15 AM… Classes run M-F usually between 8:30-4:30, but the exact hours are at the Instructor’s discretion…always an average of 6 hours/day, but starting and ending times may vary according to your instructor.
- We always have a 1 hr lunch break, to use or not, it’s up to you…and a lunch plan depending on where we are painting. We order in the AM and deliver to your location…you pay in cash on the last day before you leave!
- Our Studios are large, with good light and waterviews; you’ll have your own table space and you are welcome to leave equipment etc. there for the duration of the class. It is possible to stay and paint after hours, we’ll explain the logistics!
- The Plein Air plan for the day is weather-dependent and decided at the end of the previous day if possible, or more likely, when we meet in the Studio each morning! Make sure your Class Monitors know where you have set up, and try to stay close to the demo area. Less running around for them, more time for feedback to you!
- There is free parking at the Studio building, which is within a few blocks of downtown.
- We usually carpool (or sometimes walk if it’s close) to Plein Air painting sites, many of which have shade and at the least, a porta-potty or nearby facilities. You will get good directions. Please, do NOT depend on your GPS unless we say so!
- Each class has an experienced Monitor (or two!) as your Go-To person for any problems or needs…please ask…we all will do our absolute best to see that you have a great class experience!
- Downtown in both locations has great galleries, shops and food and the area is full of wonderful places to paint, many accessible to the single painter that a class can’t utilize…if you can, take a look around!
- For Lodging (scroll down for Belfast) and Travel info, click on the buttons on the Home Page.
- If you have any problems, tell us!! We can’t fix anything if we don’t hear till you get home. Be sure to contact us with any questions. Thanks!