Painting Workshops.
When quality matters!
When quality matters!
VIEW-Amid-El Haddad
VIEW with Amid El Haddad: ``Complete process to design your own painting`` in Watercolor
Class Information
The class is live and interactive on ZOOM
Dates: Feb 9 & 10 from 10am-1pm Pacific Time
Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Participants: Max 20
Medium: Watercolor
Price: $178 for 6 hours
In this class we will work from your photo references to design YOUR vision from value plan to finished painting.
Bring your own photo (if you wish). It is easier if you bring a photo to resemble what I will be demoing. I will be doing a street scene. If you don’t want to paint your own, you are welcome to work with the reference photo I will be working on. The reference photo will be provided.
Day 1: Composition, Drawing and Value Sketch. I will give you recommendations for the best composition based on your photos. I will then demonstrate the drawing (of the Italian street scene) and giving you time to draw yours. We will then proceed to the value sketch.
Day 2: Watercolor of the painting. I will be painting step by step giving you time to paint yours.
Workshop Description
How to use your reference photo as a tool to create a beautiful painting?
- By knowing how to select your subject. Important: the most beautiful subject does not necessarily make a beautiful painting. Avoid complicated subject with lots of negative shapes. Avoid obvious subject such as spectacular sunset, panoramic views, and historical monuments.
- By learning how to simplify your painting by selecting only the elements that contribute or enhance your story and remove the elements that complicate or confuse your subject.
- By organizing the depth in three levels: foreground, middle ground (the scene where the story takes place), and background.
- By organizing the hierarchical relationship between the different shapes.
- By carrying out a value study identifying major shapes with same value.
- By establishing connections between the shapes to guide the viewer’s eyes.
- By building dramatic tension by managing contrast and tonal values.
- By creating a mother color that gives specific light and mood to your painting.
Demo: My painting “Ponte Vecchio” in Florence.
- Format: By choosing the portrait format, I establish a vertical reading of the subject.
- Composition: I choose L composition to frame my painting, using the building on the left side and its shadow cast. Combined with A composition to lead the viewers into the painting. As you can see, I avoided giving a dominant position to “Ponte Vecchio”. Its role is limited to the background.
- Drawing: to give a correct structure to your drawing, you must identify the reference points. namely, the point of intersection between your position (vertical line) and the horizon line (horizontal line).
- Value: I have established four values.
1. Sky the negative form (tea consistency)
2. Positive form (coffee consistency)
3. The shaded parts (milk consistency)
4. Details like windows, figures…etc (cream consistency)
Class Format
- A host from the VIEW Academy will facilitate the meeting, admitting you if you connect late, helping you with technical problems, etc…
- The V.I.E.W. workshop is live, interactive and hands-on
- Amid will demonstrate step by step, breaking up the process in manageable steps, giving you time to paint during the live session
- You will be able to ask questions directly to Amid
- You will be able to show your work to Amid to get personal feedback and critique
- You will enjoy interactivity with fellow participants
- You can keep the recordings of the class forever
What you will learn in this Class
- Planning painting process.
- Drawing and composition from major shapes to details.
- Introducing of the scenography to express your painting story.
- Pigment management: colour mixing and wash consistency.
- Proper use of edges through timing, exploring watercolour life cycle from wet to dry.
- Controlling tonal values.
- Abstracting the shapes by developing your own visual language.
Biography-Amid El Haddad, AWS
Faithful to the tradition of Impressionist painters, Amid is an avid Plein-Air painter, producing the majority of his work outdoor. This has helped, over the years, to develop a narrative and scenographic style, which infuse a characteristic story into each painting.
Amid is adept at genuine and immediate rendering and avoids laborious techniques that could affect the freshness and translucency of the medium.
Amid joined the school of fine arts in Brussels to study architecture. During his studies he became familiar with basic rules of drawing and he got to know watercolor as his favorite medium for rendering.
His current activity as a teacher in a Watercolor School in Belgium and a tutor helps him to verbalise and share his craft. It also helps him to express his feelings more accurately and make his inner voice tangible.
Amid is a sought-after art instructor who conducts watercolor workshops in Belgium, France, Italy and the US.
More about Amid El Haddad: www.amidelhaddad.com
Samples of Amid El Haddad's Art
Click on any picture to enlarge.
Testimonials from our VIEWers
“Amid is a wonderful instructor. He teaches elements of composition, technique and artistry presented in a step by step manner at a pace that is easy to follow. His feedback is invaluable, offered in a supportive manner ideal for personal growth and exploration. Having taken several workshops with Amid this past year, I highly recommend his workshops for all skill levels”.
Richard L.
“I have learned so much from Amid’s classes and had a lot of fun doing so! His instructions are so clear and easy to follow. No matter what the subject is, he breaks the painting process down in easy steps. He is a fantastic instructor and painter and I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to take his classes all the way from Belgium (where he lives) to my living room. Thank you Amid and French Escapade! ”
Lily S.
“Amid El Haddad is a devoted, passionate watercolor artist who provides clear, easily understood instruction to achieve incredible, impressionistic results! In just two days of painting with Amid in the FrenchEscapade V.I.E.W class I was able to better understand the medium to effectively achieve the desired results. Much to my amazement both paintings demonstrated a vast improvement in my abilities directly related to his teaching. Amid is able to break down and convey manageable chunks of information, demonstrate his intentions and facilitate growth in his students. Thank you Amid for sharing your vast knowledge and expertise of watercolor painting!”
Marilyn M.
The Price of US $178 for 6 hours includes:
- Documents to help prepare for the class
- Personal feedback during the class
- The access to our VIEW Facebook page so you can share and communicate with the VIEW Academy community of artists and teachers.
- The recordings of the class that you can keep forever
- If you can’t attend, you can buy the recording only (same price).