PAINTING/TRANSCENDING THE PHOTO REFERENCE – ALYSSA MONKS, FEB/MARCH 2026
$1,449.00
- Registration Open
- Instructor: Alyssa Monks
- Dates: Feb. 20, March 6, March 20-22
- Size: 12 Students
- Cost: Tuition – $1449
- Materials: Included below as a download
- Read Studio Policies HERE
- Coupons may not be used on workshops
9 in stock
Description
This workshop is designed to guide the students toward creating a painting from your own photo reference. It aims to instruct painters on how to create a photo reference that is useful in making a great painting and use that photograph to create a painting that surpasses the look of that photograph, not simply imitate it.
The workshop will explain topics such as ideal lighting, camera settings, lenses, Photoshop, and printing, all done online prior to the in person painting workshop. This will give students the time to prepare their own reference, using Alyssa’s recommendations.
In person, the students will learn to create a palette, finding color relationships that portray the space and volume, which will map the illusion. Alyssa will demonstrate how she begins a painting, putting emphasis on ways of activating the surface. By focusing on deliberate brush stroke and maintaining accurate color relationships rather than rendering, the application of paint to describes the form.
Students will accentuate the structural volumes of the form over the contour, concentrating on relating all parts of the picture to each other with an organized palette. From there, students will be guided towards deciding what information is useful to look for and what usual pitfalls to avoid when interpreting a photograph. Deciding when and how to invent and experiment is perhaps the most crucial part of the process. Students will be encouraged to look more at the painting itself and respond to it, rather than copying the photographic source.
We will explore ways of seeing the picture objectively, how to imply detail without overstating, and what level of finish works best for the particular painting or style. Methods of Glazing and Scumbling will be demonstrated, as well, for future use.
The final result can be a painting that captures the essence of your subject (and your connection with that subject) and contains the intimacy of the human touch that transcends a smooth photo-realistic image. There are a variety of results varying from abstraction/improvisation to a more illusionistic representation. All will be discussed and the challenges and rewards of each will be explored.
Workshop Schedule:
Day 1 - Online February 20, 2026
9am - 12pm Pacific Time
- Opening Lecture and Introduction: Expectations and Plan
- What makes a good photo reference and how to create one using a camera
- Students will learn to take their own pictures and will be asked to take pictures for review the following
week
Day 2 - Online March 6, 2026
9am - 12pm Pacific Time
- Demonstration of Photoshop and printing techniques
- Students will be asked to edit their own pictures and print them for in person workshop the following
week.
Day 3 - March 20, 2026 In-Person
Hours: 9:00 - 4:00
- Color Mixing Demonstration.
- Students prepare palette
- Application Demonstration:
- Edges, brushstroke, thick or thin paint various techniques discussed
- Reading the Photograph: What is the useful information to look for in the photograph? Using anatomical cues to see volumes of forms instead of contours to create the illusionistic effect. Pitfalls to avoid when reading the photograph.
- Responding to the painting vs. the photograph.
- Experimentation and exploration: not following the photograph perfectly or literally. When and how to experiment and why it’s essential to the painting process.
- Making intentional strokes and informed decisions.
- Discussion of desired results varying from abstraction/improvisation to a more realistic illusion’
Days 4-5 - March 21-22, 2026 In-Person
Hours: 9:00 - 4:00
- Students Work on their own paintings from their prepared references.
- What is the essence of your subject that must be conveyed with the intimacy of the human touch beyond the photo- realistic image? Students begin application, using color relationships and discussed application techniques, to create initial illusion based on photographic reference.
- Optional: Glaze and Vellatura/Scumbling Demonstration and Lecture
- Continuing with First Layer application, Correcting color and adding detail
- How to finish, what is finished, you are the first audience
- Alyssa will spend focused time with each student and their painting
- optional slide lecture
Registration is Open! Limited to 12 Students!
February 20/March 6/March 20-22, 2026
MEET ALYSSA MONKS
Alyssa Monks layers spaces and moments in her paintings. She flips background and foreground using semi-transparent filters of glass, vinyl, steam, water and or foliage over shallow spaces. The tension in her paintings is created by the composition and also by the surface quality itself. Each brushstroke is thickly applied, like a fossil recording every gesture and decision, evoking the energy of the handmade object. This unpredictable surface recalls the human touch, conveying her personal empathy through the work.
Alyssa’s latest solo exhibition “It’s All Under Control” was in November – January of 2021-2022 at Forum Gallery. Monks’s paintings have been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions including “Intimacy” at the Kunst Museum in Ahlen, Germany and “Reconfiguring the Body in American Art, 1820–2009” at the National Academy Museum of Fine Arts, New York. Her work is represented in public and private collections, including the Savannah College of Arts, the Somerset Art Association, Fullerton College, the Seavest Collection, The Bennett Collection, and the collections of George Loening, Eric Fischl, Howard Tullman, Gerrity Lansing, Danielle Steele, Alec Baldwin, and Luciano Benetton. In 2015, Alyssa gave a TED talk at Indiana University discussing her recent work, which is featured on TED.com. Recently, she was named the 16th most influential women artist alive today by Graphic Design Degree Hub. Her work was featured heavily in season 6 of the FX television series The Americans in 2018.
Born 1977 in New Jersey, Alyssa began oil painting as a child. She studied at The New School in New York and earned her B.A. from Boston College in 1999. During this time she studied painting at Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence. She went on to earn her M.F.A. from the New York Academy of Art in 2001. She completed an artist in residency at Fullerton College in 2006 and has lectured and taught at universities and institutions worldwide. She continues to offer workshops and mentorships and lectures regularly.
STUDIO INFORMATION
Studio Address
145 W. Main St., Suite 110
Tustin, CA 92780
**Park in parking lot or on the street.
Airport and Hotels
If you are flying in, the closest airport to the studio is Santa Ana - John Wayne Airport. It is about 5 miles away from the studio, with several hotels nearby as well. Our clients' favorite hotels are listed below.
Budget friendly and near the freeway
People LOVE staying in Newport Beach, at hotels or airbnbs. It is about 20 minutes from the studio via uber/car. There are also several Airbnb's closer to the studio, as well!
***there are hotels closer to the studio, but several that I DO NOT recommend. If you have questions about hotels, please reach out to me at karabullockart@gmail.com.
Workshop Policies: Due to limited class size, payment is non-refundable, but is transferable ONLY if the workshop sells out. If you purchase a workshop and are unable to attend, AND if there is a wait list for the course, we will offer your spot to a person on the wait list. If someone on the wait list is able to take your spot, we will reimburse you your tuition, minus a $75 admin fee for handling the replacement. If you are unable to attend the workshop, and the workshop has not sold out with a wait list, we will not be able to refund your purchase.
***These policies also apply to a Zoom workshop.
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