Rita Kirkman’s work is identified with sunlight, shadows, and adventurous ways to portray light with color, value, and temperature. Rita is a Pastel Society of America Master Pastelist and an Eminent Pastelist with the International Association of Pastel Societies. Her work has been featured in the Pastel Journal and the Pratique des Arts Special Pastel. She is the recipient of numerous national and international awards.

Encaustic is an ancient beeswax-based paint that is both versatile and extremely forgiving. This workshop offers students a thorough foundation for painting with this fascinating medium along with studio time for exploring a wide range of mixed media that is compatible with wax. We'll cover safety, tools and materials, painting and fusing, and focus on encaustic's unique characteristics such as temperature, adhesion and malleability. Image transfers, collage, India ink, and oils are just some of the techniques that will be covered. Be prepared to work on or complete as many as 8-10 paintings in our two days together. All levels welcome.

This workshop is for those who would like to learn a non-traditional approach to oil painting or explore oils for the first time. Cold wax medium is an additive that thickens oil paint and speeds up the drying time (a bit). We will use R&F Pigment Sticks (compressed oil paints) along with tube oils to create paintings without brushes or smelly solvents. You will discover new tools and methods for creating rich and authentic small works on paper and Ampersand’s Gessobord. With Arches oil paper as our primary substrate, you’ll have several paintings going at once and they can easily be transported back home. This workshop is fun, a bit messy and will change the way you think about oil painting.