A letter to the 2011 class

Welcome to everyone interested in my June 2011 Landscape Oil Painting Class.

This class takes place in and around Pawlet, VT a small agricultural community at the North end of the beautiful Mettowee Valley. An ideal place for landscape painting, Pawlet is also where Elizabeth and I make our home and have our studios. Saturday crits and Saturday night suppers will take place at our home and studio.

The workshop is a monthlong plein air painting experience. This year I will be teaching from June 2 -28. I encourage students to come for the entire month but realize many have time and financial constraints. For that reason this year I am offering 1, 2 or 3 week options in addition to the full month.

You will find detailed information about the class and a materials list in the post below. As always students will be responsible for their housing. Expect to find both housing and crit locations in the surrounding towns of Danby, Rupert, Dorset, and Manchester. Please contact us for a list of local realtors and the names of a few local people with rooms or houses to rent. Last year students had success finding accommodations in both the Manchester http://www.manchestervermont.net/ and Lake St. Catherine areas. Though the distances are not long (and the drives are beautiful) everyone will need a car or a friend with whom to carpool. If you have any questions please feel free to email me at thomastorak@gmail.com or Elizabeth at torak@vermontel.net or call 802-325-6428.

About the class

Almost a hundred years ago Frank Vincent DuMond, an instructor at the newly formed Art Students League of New York, decided his students would benefit from landscape instruction during the summer months. Every summer he and his students packed up their palettes and brushes and traveled to Old Lyme, Connecticut, where the DuMonds had a farm, to spend three months painting en plein air. In 1951 Frank Vincent DuMond died and his student Frank Mason took over the class in New York. Having benefited greatly from DuMond’s insistence on the study of landscape, Mason continued the practice of a summer landscape class while limiting its duration to the month of June and relocating the class to Stowe, Vermont near the Masons’ summer home in Peacham. In 2009 Frank Mason died and Thomas Torak, artist and former student of Mason’s, took over in Studio 7 at the Art Students League. Torak, in his turn, continues the tradition of a June landscape class. Like DuMond and Mason before him Torak has relocated the class to the area near his home and studio: the class is now held in scenic Pawlet, Vermont in the southwest corner of the state.

The June landscape class is an experience like no other. Generations of students cherish the memory of their time in the class. Living in the landscape for an entire month gives the student time to explore his or her thoughts and ideas about painting even as each day brings new observations on the effect of light and weather. Students have time to get to know one another and to form a community of artists. The tradition of Saturday night suppers strengthens those bonds by giving everyone a chance to relax and socialize at the close of each week of intensive painting.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays the class meets outdoors for plein air painting and critiques. The time of the session could be anywhere from sunrise to late afternoon, depending on the location and the weather. Students paint on location and receive critiques on their work.

On Saturdays everyone brings a painting they have done on their own to Torak’s studio. Torak gives each student a critique while discussing the principles and theories of landscape painting. At the end of the day everyone is invited to stay for supper.

Information and Materials

FIRST CLASS: Thursday June 2, 2011 @ 4pm – We will start with a late afternoon painting session on the road outside my studio (Beaver Brook Road, Pawlet, VT) . Directions will be sent when you register for the class.

CLASS SCHEDULE: Three classes a week. Tuesday and Thursday we will meet outdoors for plein air painting and critiques. The time of the session could be anywhere from sunrise to late afternoon, depending on the location and the weather. I will decide a day or two before the crit so you should be prepared to keep those days free from other obligations. Saturday we will meet in my studio to discuss the principles and theories of landscape painting, each student should bring one painting.

CLASS SUPPERS: Each Saturday evening (June 4, 11, 18, 25) Elizabeth and I will host an informal class supper at our home and studio. We invite the students to bring friends and family.

LAST CLASS: Tuesday June 28, 2011

CLASS FEE: $750 for the month. $600 for 3 weeks. $400 for 2 weeks. $250 for 1 week. A $50 nonrefundable deposit (checks only please, no credit cards) payable to Thomas Torak will reserve space in the class, enrollment is limited to 30 students. Mail to: Thomas Torak 360 Beaver Brook Road Pawlet, VT 05761 For additional information contact Elizabeth Torak: torak@vermontel.net or call 802-325-6428.

SUPPLIES: Portable field easel. Palette (a small wooden palette works well outdoors, no white or paper palettes). Gesso panels, canvas boards or stretched canvases (if you bring stretched canvases bring a piece of cardboard to put behind the canvas so that light will not pass through from the back), 9 x 12 or so is good for field crits, but if you want to do something larger for the Saturday crit please feel free to do so. A sketch pad (9 x 12 or so), pencils, charcoal or other drawing materials are very useful. Mineral spirits in a can or jar to clean your brushes. Filbert and round brushes in a variety of sizes. A few round sables are useful for details. Paper towels or rags to wipe your brushes and a small bag to keep them from blowing away. Palette cups to hold medium.

PAINTS: OIL PAINTS ONLY, no acrylic or water based oils. White (titanium-zinc or Permalba, a large tube); Winsor Newton’s best quality cadmium lemon yellow and cadmium yellow light (these are very important for making rich landscape greens); cadmium yellow medium; cadmium yellow deep; cadmium orange; cadmium red light (again Winsor Newton’s best quality); cadmium red medium; cadmium red deep; alizarin crimson; cerulean or manganese blue; cobalt blue; ultramarine blue; thalo blue; sap green; thalo green; yellow ochre; ivory or lamp black. Any other colors you like to use.

MEDIUM: A good general medium is: 1 part linseed oil, 1 part dammar or mastic varnish, 1 part turpentine mixed together in a jar. If you prefer to use Fels mediums, Maroger, Liquin or any other medium (except water based) please feel free to do so.

Prepare for all sorts of weather. Bring boots, warm clothing, rain poncho, sun hat and a swimsuit.