Art Classes
info@lovedogdesign.com | 406-543-7504
The act of creating is always a bit of a ritual...drawing a line on the white field of good rag paper or layering pigment and watching as the color deepens and moves the eye toward wonder...this process involves surrender to the unknown as well as a kind of offering to the core part of our Selves.
My greatest joy in teaching art is to help people remember how to See. And then to use this re-awakened awareness to create images which reflect the inner workings of the Self.
I introduce a different technique each session at the same time that I encourage each painter to draw from the deep well of her own creativity. So at the same time that we paint traditional subjects like sky and land, lemons and sweetpeas, opal eggs and river rocks and feathers, we are exploring the inner heart. It is this unique visual language in each student that I encourage each week.
We slow down and look carefully at the world—we notice colors, textures and moods which draw us in. We learn to understand that, ultimately, everything we see is somehow created and deepened by Light.
Please look over my 8-week teaching sessions and weekend workshops and let me know if you are interested in joining us. My email is and my phone number is 543-7504.
All of the art classes listed here are taught in a light-filled studio in my home in Missoula's west Rattlesnake Valley. The tea kettle is always on and the company is reliably delightful. And there is a large lending library of art books and catalogues available to my students.
In case credentials are important to you, I offer the following: I have a BFA in Art (majored in painting) and a BA in English. I've been teaching art and writing for 34 years.
You can see samples of my work on the Paintings page.
8 Week Sessions:
Drawing
This class is designed to free the hand and remind the eye to look carefully and deeply at the object of its affection. The first 8 weeks we work strictly in graphite and then we move to colored pencils and soft pastels in the second
8-week session. No previous experience with drawing or art is necessary. Beginning at the beginning is a lovely way to approach your renewed vision.
Classes run three hours once each week; dates and times are set to meet individual schedules.
Cost: $160 includes all materials
Beginning Watercolor
This class leads us into the realm of the seemingly magical transcendence of time which occurs when we experiment with the infinity of color and form.
Students learn design concepts, color relationships, and painting techniques.
But most important will be the exploration of your inner vision as you learn "to see" the world anew.
Classes run three hours once each week; dates and times are set to meet individual schedules.
Cost: $160 includes all materials (excellent paints, fine brushes & good rag watercolor paper)
Watercolor/Mixed Media
This class is designed to offer painters more painting techniques as well as more experience with a conceptual approach to imagery. We continue to explore each painter's inner eye.
You'll experiment with adding soft pastels, watercolor pencils, colored pencils and metallic ink to your finished watercolor paintings.
Classes run three hours once each week; dates and times are set to meet individual schedules.
Cost: $160 includes all materials (excellent paints, fine brushes, & good rag watercolor paper)
Cosmic Cards
Throughout the ages, the ancient symbols of the tarot deck have been re-invented over and again.
Using the basic concept of the tarot, you will create a divinitory deck of your own, one based on the symbols which resonate most powerfully in your life. If you are familiar with the language of astrology, you might want to create your own personal set of archetypes based on the planets and asteroids. If you work with the language of flowers and herbs, you could create a deck which reflects these organic healing properties. Music lovers sometimes create decks where their favorite composers or instruments are invoked to lend their wise counsel. A deck can be conceived around the world of insects or feathers or rocks.
This is a class of endless invention and great fun. The card tribe which evolves is always astonishing in that the characters seem to have been waiting all along for you to notice them and give them a voice.
Classes run three hours once each week for 8 weeks; dates and times are set to meet individual schedules.
Cost: $160 includes materials
Creating a Children's Book (for adults)
This 8-week session is devoted to the process of creating a children's book.
We begin by spinning stories together. We find our stories in our past and in the lives of our ancestors, in our night dreams and in our daydreams. If you worry that you don't have a story, I assure you that you do and that it will find you as soon as you begin this process.
Often these books are created in visual images alone, though the addition of actual words is always a sweet accompaniment to the illustrations.
Students will have access to a variety of mediums (see above classes), though the primary image-making will be done with watercolor paint. From this base, embellishment with pastels or color pencils or metallic inks is always possible.
Classes run three hours once each week; dates and times are set to meet individual schedules.
Cost: $160 includes most materials (excellent paints, fine brushes, & good rag watercolor paper)
In the Footsteps of the Masters
...a class for those who have some experience with the pencil and the brush.
The sessions are designed to teach both a wide range of techniques and to encourage a deeper awareness of how we humans have come to understand our lives through a fascinating range of visual metaphors.
Beginning with the caves of Laseaux and moving forward into Mesopotamia, Egypt, through Greece and Rome and into all the periods which follow, students experiment with the styles of the times, expanding their understanding of how our visual language has evolved along with our consciousness.
We continue into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and explore a wide range of styles including expressionism, impressionism, pointillism, cubism, surrealism, abstract expressionism, mystical realism, photo realism, pop art, graffiti, and botanical illustration.
These sessions run every week for a year and students pay by the month ($80). Most students continue with this course of study from beginning to end, but it is also possible to drop away from the group for a month or two and return again when your schedule allows the time. Because you are creating your own response to different periods of cultural history, it is easy to return to the class after an absence of a month or more.
Weekend Workshops:
Creating Your Own Mondala: Invoking the Inner Self Saturday & Sunday 10 to 5
For as long as humans have created, we have used the image of the circle to represent the most sacred of our visual symbols. Representing wholeness and completion, the circle draws us in and gives us the space to meditate upon what we carry in our hearts.
The mandala weekend is focused on the creation of a piece of two-dimensional art which serves as a tangible and beautiful reminder of who you are inside.
Each of us is working to manifest the energy of many different inner archetypes. As you create your mandala images, you are able both to honor and to integrate the different voices within you. Your mandala becomes the powerful visual representation of the integrated essence to which you can return over and again.
You do not need to have taken other art classes to join this group—this visual piece will create itself if your intent is to manifest the archetypical energy within you. Some of the most amazing works come from people who do not consider themselves to be “artists.”
To lend to this process as much flexibility and visual play as possible, I offer a wide variety of mediums including everything from watercolor paints, soft pastels, metallic inks, colored & watercolor pencils to sequins and glitter. You can add your own photos, poems, song lyrics, journal entries, old newspaper clippings and anything else which suits the nature of your inner journey.
A sturdy lunch is provided both Saturday and Sunday.
Paint Your Pet Saturday 10 to 5
We take a look at the animal creations of artists down through time, beginning with the caves of France to Henri Rosseau's "primitive" animals to Van Hoesen to Delessert to Hertel . . .
Using a variety of mediums including watercolor paints, metallic inks, pastels, colored pencils & watercolor pencils, each artist will create a portrait of a beloved pet.
A sturdy lunch is provided.
Workshop Cost: $125 (all materials provided)
Cosmic Card Deck Saturday 10 to 5
Using the basic concept of the tarot deck, you will create a set of divinitory cards of your own based on the symbols which resonate most powerfully in your life. If you are familiar with the language of astrology, you might want to create your own personal set of archetypes based on the most powerful of the planets in your natal chart. If you work with the language of flowers and herbs, you could create cards which reflect these organic healing properties. Music lovers sometimes create cards where their favorite composers or instruments are invoked to lend their wise counsel. A deck can be conceived around the world of insects or feathers or rocks.
This is a day of endless invention and great fun. The cards which evolve are always astonishing in that the characters seem to have been waiting all along for you to notice them and give them a voice.
A good lunch is provided.
