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Gayle Kabaker is a painter, writer, teacher and visual storyteller

Happy New Year! Workshop at my place in June and...

The process of commissions....

Gayle Kabaker

Jan 2

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Workshop sign up here

Happy New Year!

What an interesting year 2024 was! It was a year filled with amazing work collaborations, incredible travel & teaching, and wonderful new friendships especially with some women artists who now feel like art sisters. Starting the Artists for Kamala group and having weekly meetings to support each other for how we could make a difference with out art and raise money for the campaign was super inspiring and of course so heartbreaking in the end. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to focus my energy and work into areas that are best for me, and some of this requires huge leaps of faith! There’s going to be a lot of craziness this coming year and how to stay steady within the storm…? I have a doodle I’ve drawn for years - a person on a surfboard riding a big wave with confidence while all hell is breaking loose around her, and tons of scary stuff lurking below. You know what helps me with all of this? A daily sketchbook practice.

I’m not one for New Years resolutions, but my goal for 2025 is to bring in experiences, work and people into my life that inspire and bring joy. And teaching at my place last summer was all of this. So I am doing it again!

Join me June 28 & 29 for my second annual summer workshop at my place in Western Massachusetts! We had such fun last summer that I’m doing it again, but a bit differently. With a limit of about 15 people, I will have more time to give more individual attention and guide you to draw, paint, and find new ways of experiencing your creative process. You will use your sketchbook and learn to develop a sketchbook practice or how to enhance the practice you already have. Also, there are no one day options this time. It was pretty tricky to teach the second day to people who weren’t there the first day, so this time everyone will be there the whole weekend! (After you sign up you will get a list of nearby inns and Airbnb’s.)

This weekend is open to ALL levels of painting ability.

Click here to sign up for the workshop

We will start each day with exercises that are designed to loosen and warm you up, help you to see differently and with an attuned sense of awareness. We will draw and paint what is around us, as well as from a live model. Starting out with a limited color palette and gradually building up to more colors. Never drawn from a live model? No worries! I will give a short basic ‘figuring drawing 101’ lesson, but we will mostly interpret the figure in the same loose way that I draw and paint everything. Using the figure a starting point and interpreting her how ever we want! Below you can see the incredible variety in interpretations of our model.

I’m excited to keep this group smaller and more intimate with a limit of about 15 people. Two delicious lunches as well as dinner on Saturday night are included, and an extra bonus demo with master watercolor painter - my husband Peter Kitchell!

Weather permitting, we will paint on tables outside. We will also head to the Ashfield Lake, about 8 minutes away to draw people and water, then come back and decide what to take into full paintings. If it rains we have indoor studio back up - not to worry.

With fewer people, I am excited that we will be able to actually draw in The Pondhouse! We’ve been Airbnb super hosts for ten years with this glamping style ‘cabin.’ Now that we’ve stopped renting it I am excited to utilize it as a summer studio!

While we will mostly be painting what is around us, you can bring some photos and I can help you decide how to interpret and or combine them into a painting. I havestarted using a bit of ‘ creative fantasy’ in some of my paintings like this painting below.

You will meet some wonderful new people who all get exited about the same things. “I LOVE that color what is it? Ash Blue? I have never used that!”

I’ve had some epiphanies this year from my travels. The biggest one is - these days I don’t get excited about making paintings without people in them. I often use myself as my ‘inspirational figure’ in my paintings, and I can show you how I do this. If there is enough interest from the group, there will be a bit more of a focus on including people in the drawings and paintings, but you will be encouraged to paint what rings YOUR bell and I will happily assist you!

From 5-6pm on Saturday my husband Peter Kitchell will give a water color demo in his studio. Last summer everyone loved this. He’s got a very unique way of using watercolor that might surprise you!

-After you signup you will be sent a list of local airbnb’s and inns nearby. A few people shared places, so we can also connect you with others who are interested in doing this. The closest airport is BDL in Hartford at 1 hr 15 min. Boston is about 2.5 hours.

-You will be given a suggested supply list.

-I will ask each person to respond in an email beforehand what they hope to get out of the weekend.

For more information click HERE.

Commissions

This past year I am grateful to have had many wonderful commissions. If you are interested in a commission please write to me and I will send you information about how the process works and my price list. I even had a few commissions that wanted a variation on my last New Yorker cover, but with their family! Below you can see a few of the commissions painted this past year. I’ve gotten a tad more adventurous with my colors on portraits! ( scroll down)

A variation of my last New Yorker cover.