As summer draws to a close, we see less of the sun in Seattle and the nights grow cooler. It is time sharpen those pencils and head back to school!

This year I will be studying under Gary Faigin along with six other students in the Still Life Atelier at Gage Academy. I really enjoyed my time last year in Juliette Aristides’ Classical Atelier, but found that it was hard to keep up with the full time students while balancing work, family, and art.

Gary’s program is designed for part time students. Since the models are wine bottles and bananas, we can work any time of the day or night, and we never have to pay overtime. This is great for me, because I can put in a full week at Microsoft and still do art on evenings and weekends.

Our first class was a discussion and critique of summer projects. Now I am gradually moving in while acquiring props at the thrift shop and art supplies at Dick Blick. I already have most of what I need, with the exception of canvases.

One thing I learned in the first class is that still life is traditionally taught with life size paintings. When I asked Gary what size canvas or board to get, he said not to work with anything smaller than 18″ x 24″. It reminded me of my first year of figure drawing where we never worked smaller than 18″ x 24″ and sometimes worked even larger to get practice drawing with our arms instead of our wrists. I don’t think I have ever done a painting larger than 9″ x 12″, so this will be fun!

Move-in day, first day of classes, Gary Faigin’s Still Life Atelier. This is my studio space – probably the cleanest you will see it all year.