Floral Workshop ~ Burridge ~ Corpus Christi

Floral Acrylic on 20" x 16" gallery wrapped canvas by Nancy
painted in the Robert Burridge Floral Workshop in Corpus Christi (with some collage elements)

I've been in "Bob Land" for the past 5 days in an acrylic painting workshop in Corpus. This was my fifth 5 day workshop with Bob and I'm signed up for my sixth in Dallas in 2009. He is booked for the next 3 years and lucky you if you're signed up and if you aren't, get on the waiting list today. His workshops are all about loosening up and having fun. On the first day he reassures each student it will be a safe place to paint like you've always wanted to paint and take risks. He is BIG on risk taking. He tells us it's all been done before but not by you. It's your life and experiences and paint from that. Bob likes to paint flat and use lots of water on 140 lb. paper covered with gesso. He also paints on canvas but with his workshop travels the paper is easier to transport. Bob's experience in the design field has led to redesigning his brushes with wider, longer handles and we'll hear more about this later.
Warm-ups on smaller sizes (5" x 7" or 6" x 9") start each morning and helps with the loosening up process. Light, color, composition, and varnish are all discussed in details and handouts. Lots of demos (short and long) help us to learn by watching him paint. He's invented his own color wheel using the Holbein Acryla colors he enjoys using. He stresses his way is not the only way but one way. He is a high energy person and his workshops reflect that and one student voiced our opinion when she said "We're slow but we're willing" and that's the necessary ingredient for the students - be willing to show up and take risks and have a good attitude. He'll teach you all you can absorb and this is the reason for my fifth as I can't absorb and process all the information at once, even with lots of note taking and photos. It's not about him but about him teaching and helping us. Take your value scale and put grumpy on one end and hyper happy on the other and he's at the H H end. In Corpus the students produced some great work because we were constantly reminded to take risks, stop and breathe, and have fun and we were constantly inspired by his love of painting and enthusiasm. When he's not teaching workshops he paints in his country barn studio along the beaches of San Luis Obispo County. If you can't get to a workshop his web site offers a lot of information with pdf files to open and he has a monthly newsletter you would enjoy. Go to http://robertburridge.com and click on the purple ArtsyFartsy logo and register.

Below is a slide show of some of the images from the workshop.