Susan Bourdet

Susan Bourdet     September 19-25, 2010 (Five Teaching Days)
Inspiration from Nature - Watercolor

Returning for the 2nd year in 2010
www.susanbourdet.com

Learn to create breathtaking nature paintings in this intensive 5-day workshop with Oregon artist Susan Bourdet. Known for contrasting delicately detailed foregrounds with soft, impressionistic backgrounds, Susan will teach you to translate your ideas and inspirations into strong compositions. Through demonstration and lots of painting, you will learn the secrets of her wet-into-wet backgrounds and employ her logical, structured approach to watercolor – a method that frees you to enjoy the medium’s beauty and spontaneity without the frustration! At the end of the week, you will leave with an arsenal of new techniques for all the colors and textures of nature.

 “I have always sought wild places, feeling that nature is central to my way of life. For that reason, no piece of my art has ever seemed complete to me without an element that could fly or dart from the page. I love watercolor because of its immediacy, that sense of the ephemeral. Each painting is my attempt to capture a moment in nature as I feel it to be – a coming together of light and life for just an instant. While I can never really catch that essence, I am compelled to keep trying!”

Raised in western Montana, Susan Bourdet learned early to love nature and has always found inspiration in the natural world. A graduate of Montana State University, she feels that her work combines her two greatest interests – art and biology. While finding a way to turn her passion into a career, she worked at many different jobs and taught painting at a local community college. Eventually, in 1989, Wild Wings discovered her work in a Portland gallery and her first limited edition prints were published. Her sensitive watercolors are displayed in galleries and collections worldwide and her particular style has become well known in the nature painting arena.

After thirty years of painting, Susan still finds her happiest hours are spent in the field and in her studio, either painting or working out ideas for paintings. She enjoys sharing her hard-won skills and insights with other artists through her Northlight books and Creative Catalyst DVD’s as well as through workshops all over the country. She is the author of three annual Lang calendars and over 60 limited edition prints published by Wild Wings.

Susan and her husband, Jim, live on several wooded acres in western Oregon. They have raised two children who are also both artists. Together they enjoy gardening and creating an environment designed to attract birds and provide colorful inspiration for paintings.

Studio: Something for all levels - BEGINNERS WELCOME.

Susan offers a partial tuition scholarship.
Workshop Fee: $ + tax
Room & One Dinner Fee: $ + tax