Our Courses evolved from Dianne’s workshops. They explore in-depth a single composing principle.
Our Concept Lessons are short single lessons that give clarity to a concept about the painting process. Most Concept Lessons are the first lesson of a Course.
NEW COURSE
$65 thru AUGUST
All new courses are 50% off
during the month they are introduced!
Harmonizing with Hidden Colors
• What “hidden colors” means and how to find them
• The role tertiary colors can play in hidden colors
• Creating a hidden colors scheme
• How to use the “hidden colors” scheme to harmonize your painting.
♦OUR COURSES ABOUT COLOR♦
Balancing Color
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
● What it means for colors to be out of balance
● How to develop an eye for identifying colors out of balance.
● The kinds of color relationships and how they can be used to create color balance.
● How to keep your colors balanced from start to finish.
Balancing Warm and Cool
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
• How to determine a color’s temperature, especially when it is neutralized
• How to change the color’s temperature by placing colors around it
• Ways to create warm and cool degrees
• How use warm colors within cool and cool colors within warm
• How to balance warm and cool in a painting
Controlling the Saturation of Colors
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
● The roles saturation (intensity, chroma) play in our paintings
● What happens to hues when saturated or desaturated
● How to control degrees of saturation in every value
● How and when to use strong saturation in our paintings
Conveying a Direct Light Source
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
• How to locate and interpret the direction of the light source
• How to interpret the color of images within the light's rays
• How to interpret the color of shadows caused by direct light
• How to take a light source from one scene and interpret it in a different scene
Creating Atmospheric Perspective
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
● The visual tools that we use to create the appearance of atmospheric perspective
● How to convert a scene to express an atmospheric perspective that is different from what we see
● How to create degrees of atmospheric density
● Why some rules you’ve learned about atmospheric perspective are not always true.
Creating Luminosity
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
• What causes us to see luminescence
• The skill of gradation in creating luminosity
• The role of using color chords in creating luminosity
• How to set up your palette for creating luminosity in your paintings
Creating Rhythm with Color
In this course you will learn
• How color can create visual rhythm
• The kinds of visual rhythm color can create and how each works
• How to use analogous colors to create rhythm
• How a single scene can be reinterpreted by changing the rhythm of the color
Exploring Tertiary Colors
In this Master Course you will learn...
• The hue range of tertiary hues
• The potential of tertiary complements
• The potential of a tertiary triad
• The potential of a tertiary tetrad
• How to use a tertiary palette to transpose colors
Finding Colors in Neutrals
In this short video, Dianne shows you her method for finding colors in any neutral or gray color you see.
Getting To Know Your Tube Colors
This FREE Concept Lesson guides you through how to get to know your tube color so that you can work with them with total confidence and flexibility.
Harmonizing with Hidden Colors
• What “hidden colors” means and how to find them
• The role tertiary colors can play in hidden colors
• Creating a hidden colors scheme
• How to use the “hidden colors” scheme to harmonize your painting.
Harnessing Warm & Cool Colors
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
● The two ways colors can be warm or cool
● How to balance warm and cool in your painting
● How to enhance neutrals by alternating warm and cool
● How to enrich a single area of color by inserting an opposite temperature
How To Use the Color Wheel
Dianne explains how color works according to the traditional color wheel. And it's FREE!
Keeping Your Paintings Harmonious
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
• The difference between harmony and unity
• What causes harmony and dissonance in paintings
• The degrees of harmony and how to use them
• How to include dissonance to enhance harmony
Keying Your Paintings
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
● What keying a painting means
● Ways to decide on the value key and its range
● How to use the light and shadow in a scene to key the painting
● How to use color as a perceptual element when keying
Mastering Hues in Your Paintings
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
● How to identify hues regardless of their value or saturation, and the difference between hue and color
● The ways hues can change independent of value or saturation and how they behave with value and saturation.
● The role hues play in giving the painting harmony and discord
● Ways hues can determine how the viewer looks at a painting
Varying & Repeating Colors
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
• How repeating and varying can enrich your paintings
• How to use variations of hue, with saturation, and/or with value in your paintings
• How to vary with a progression of tertiaries
• Ways to repeat color for color harmony and unity
• How to repeat and vary color at the same time
Working with an Overcast Light
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
• How to interpret an overcast light
• How to enhance the color in overcast light without
increasing value contrast
• How locate and handle overcast shadows
• How to manipulate edges and textures in overcast
light
Working with Simultaneous Contrast
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
• What causes simultaneous contrast
• How simultaneous contrast differs from other kinds
of hue contrasts
• How to create simultaneous contrast
• When to use simultaneous contrast
Working with Warm and Cool Colors
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
• Why we call colors warm or cool
• How to discern whether a color is warm or cool
• Ways to make colors warmer or cooler
• How to use warm and cool colors in our paintings
♦OUR COURSES ABOUT VALUES♦
Controlling Value Contrasts
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
• How to recognize the intervals between values
• How to determine the degrees of any value contrast
• How to control the degree of contrast
• How to use value contrast to guide the eye
Creating Atmospheric Perspective
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
● The visual tools that we use to create the appearance of atmospheric perspective
● How to convert a scene to express an atmospheric perspective that is different from what we see
● How to create degrees of atmospheric density
● Why some rules you’ve learned about atmospheric perspective are not always true.
Painting in High Key
You Will Learn...
• How high key became a form of painting and how we can use it
• How to recognize and interpret colors for high key painting
• How to use the role of value and saturation contrast in high key
• How to transpose any scene into high key
Translating Shadows
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
• The kinds of shadows and how behave
• How to set your palette for creating shadows
• How to set a notan as foundation for the painting
• How to mix colors and values for realistic shadows.
Working with an Overcast Light
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
• How to interpret an overcast light
• How to enhance the color in overcast light without
increasing value contrast
• How locate and handle overcast shadows
• How to manipulate edges and textures in overcast
light
♦OUR COURSES ABOUT COMPOSING PAINTINGS♦
Composing with Visual Paths
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn..
● The major ways visual paths are created
● How visual paths work
● How to control visual movement
● How to decide which visual paths to use
Contrasting and Gradating Textures
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
• What it means to contrast & gradate textures
• How we can use textures to create visual movement and rhythm
• How to create textures that describe the subject
• How to create textures with brushwork
Controlling DEGREES of Emphasis
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
●The roles saturation (intensity, chroma) play in our paintings
●What happens to hues when saturated or desaturated
●How to control degrees of saturation in every value
● How and when to use strong saturation in our paintings
Conveying a Direct Light Source
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
• How to locate and interpret the direction of the light source
• How to interpret the color of images within the light's rays
• How to interpret the color of shadows caused by direct light
• How to take a light source from one scene and interpret it in a different scene
Creating Atmospheric Perspective
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
● The visual tools that we use to create the appearance of atmospheric perspective
● How to convert a scene to express an atmospheric perspective that is different from what we see
● How to create degrees of atmospheric density
● Why some rules you’ve learned about atmospheric perspective are not always true.
Creating Rhythm with Color
In this course you will learn
• How color can create visual rhythm
• The kinds of visual rhythm color can create and how each works
• How to use analogous colors to create rhythm
• How a single scene can be reinterpreted by changing the rhythm of the color
Determining Placement of Images
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
• How to decide where to place your images
• How visual movement is created by placement
• How to align images for dynamic and static movement
• How to crop for the strongest placement
Ditching Linear Perspective Rules
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
• How awareness of linear perspective can enhance a painting
• How to recognize IF linear perspective is present in a subject or scene
• How to find the three things that cause linear perspective to happen
• A way to create linear perspective without rules
Exploring Potential of Edges
In this Master Course, you will learn...
The major kinds of edges
• The roles of edges in our paintings
• How our eyes respond to types of edges
• How to use edges effectively and creatively
Exploring Visual Rhythms
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
What visual rhythm is and why it’s important to a
successful painting
• The kinds of visual rhythm and how each works
• How to control the speed of visual rhythm
• How a single scene can be reinterpreted by changing
its rhythm
Finding True Proportions
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn
• How to think about proportions
• How to see proportional relationships
• Techniques for finding true proportion every time
• How to interrelate proportion and alignment
Giving Shapes Character
In this MASTER COURSE You Will Learn...
• What shapes with character means
• How to observe the personality hidden within shapes
• How to use edges and tilts of angles to interpret a shape’s character
How to use variations of values and colors to interpret the shape’s character
Guiding Balance Throughout Your Painting
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
• Why balance is important for the success of a painting
• How to see visual balance
• How to use the visual elements to guide balance
• Ways to change balance in order to create emphasis
How Visual Weight Works
You Will Learn...
• The elements’ behavior that creates visual weight
• How the degrees of visual weight work
• Why knowing how to use visual weight is important to your painting
• How our eyes respond to these behaviors
Mastering Effective Brushwork
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
• The difference between using the brush to apply paint and to create images
• How to mix and stroke to avoid getting muddy color
• Ways to choose how to stroke the brush
• How to use the brush as a shape maker
Mastering Foreshortening
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
•How the angle of edges changes when planes of images are turned away from us
•How the length of planes get shorter the further they are turned away from us
•How sometimes shapes in front will overlap those that are receding •How as shapes recede, they get smaller
Placing Shapes Meaningfully
In this MASTER COURSE, you will learn...
• How to detect what shapes are doing to other
shapes
• How to relate shapes to one another and to the
edges of the format
• How to use negative space in placing images
• How to place shapes intuitively
Understanding Intervals
In this Master Course You Will Learn...
• How to recognize visual intervals
• The difference between edge intervals and space intervals
• How to use intervals to make your paintings more dynamic
• How to use intervals to create visual rhythm
Using Isolation Creatively
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn:
What isolation is in painting
• How unintentional isolation can cause visual problems in a painting
• Ways to prevent unwanted isolation from happening
• How to use isolation effectively and creatively
Working with Negative Space
In this MASTER COURSE you will learn...
● How to determine whether a space is negative or positive
● What causes a space to read negative or positive
● How to keep negative and positive space relating in your painting
● How to balance negative and positive space
♦OUR CONCEPT LESSONS♦
Most of our Concept Lessons feature the first video lesson of a course. If after watching the lesson and taking its quiz, you decide to take the course, the price of the concept lesson will be deducted from the price of the course.
Concept Lesson: Warm and Cool Colors Explained
This concept lesson introduces you to the concepts taught in Working with Warm & Cool Colors course.
How To Use the Color Wheel
Dianne explains how color works according to the traditional color wheel. And it's FREE!
Abstracting from a Realistic Image
A crash course on how to create an abstract painting based on any realistic reference.
What Is Visual Balance?
This is a short video Dianne created for one of her YouTube chats. It explains the concept of Visual Balance.
Getting To Know Your Tube Colors
This FREE Concept Lesson guides you through how to get to know your tube color so that you can work with them with total confidence and flexibility.
Finding Colors in Neutrals
In this short video, Dianne shows you her method for finding colors in any neutral or gray color you see.
Setting Up a Value Line Palette
This free concept lesson will guide you through building a value line palette. The value line palette is an ideal way to set up a limited palette with, potentially, no more than four colors that will create all the colors you will need for a painting. Enrolling is free!
Concept Lesson: What Is High Key Painting?
This concept lesson introduces you to the concepts taught in Painting in High Key,
Quick Tips
More than 560 Quick Tips on YouTube. Thise focus on painting techniques and concepts.
Individual Video Series and Lessons Website
Individual lessons you can download and own. These are lessons from which the MINI COURSES are created. If you prefer individual lessons rather than a course, this is a good choice for you.
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Learn how composing is the life and spirit of your paintings.
Painting skills go far beyond learning how to manage a brush and paint. At their heart is learning how to see and how to interpret your vision with your own voice.
An artist is not merely copying a scene, but is using the information in that scene to express an inner voice unique to each of us.
Your artistic voice is an expression of your authentic uniqueness. We give you guidance that helps you build sound tools and allows you the freedom to fully express that voice.