FINDING FIGURES: An Abstract Workshop with Andi Simpson

FRIDAY, 6/13 | 9:30-3:30PM | All Levels | $150 M / $175 NM 

Discover the beauty of the human form through loose, expressive painting. Using acrylic, collage, and intuitive techniques, we’ll explore how to suggest figures in abstract work. Includes live model time, photo references, and creative play. Loosen up, let go, and paint with heart.

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In this creative, hands-on workshop, we'll focus on discovering and abstracting the human figure in your artwork. Whether you're just beginning to incorporate people into your paintings or you're looking to loosen up and push boundaries, this class will offer tools and inspiration to help you grow.

We'll explore a variety of methods—lighting and shape recognition, reductive painting, working from photographs, and building compelling backgrounds. You'll learn how to suggest the presence of a figure without rigid outlines, using intuitive mark-making, layering, acrylic paint, and collage.

A portion of the workshop will include drawing and painting from a live, clothed model, giving you the opportunity to observe and interpret the figure in real time. Together, we'll experiment with simplifying forms, finding gestures, and letting go of perfection to embrace expressive abstraction.

Spend the day with me learning to trust your eye, loosen your brushstrokes, and bring a soulful human element into your art.

SUPPLY LIST:
Bring your medium of choice: watercolor, acrylic, ink, collage, pastel

watercolor paper

canvases smaller than 20”x20”
brushes
collage material

table covering
clear matte medium

ANDI SIMPSON lives in south central Pennsylvania, studied fine art/art history and graduated with a BFA from Frostburg State University.

She works with a variety of mediums, including acrylics, inks, and oils and considers her art to be abstract. Her work exhibits an ethereal sense of warmth, light, and love but also elicits the sensitive chaos found in nature. Her paintings begin with a foundation comprised of multiple layers of color and a variety of textures. Building from that background, she allows intuition to guide her. Defined shapes and forms present themselves organically as the piece progresses. She does not intend her work to espouse a specific message or extract a uniform reaction. Instead, she hopes to deliver a perpetually novel experience to each viewer, evoking unique visceral responses.  

She created andiann studio to bring her art into the creative wedding realm and to broaden her reach beyond local and regional markets to clients’ homes across the country.