Fridays, September 25 – November 20
9-week Art Clinic with J. Jordan Bruns–
This class is a playful exploration of painting through experimentation, layering, and mixed media techniques. Using acrylic as a flexible starting point, we’ll build surfaces with a variety of materials and processes, allowing texture, accident, and discovery to shape the work. Students will explore how abstract elements can interact with observed imagery, moving freely between representation and invention. Class Level: intermediate to advanced.
Schedule of Classes:
Class 1) September 25 – Lecture: Acrylic Overview
Types of acrylic paint: heavy body, soft body, fluid acrylics, and high-flow acrylics. We’ll discuss pigment load, viscosity, and color options, as well as test the differences between them in a class exercise. This class works best if you come prepared with ideas of what you want to paint. If you are unsure, bring some photo references and we can talk through your ideas and come up with a plan for how to achieve your goals.
Class 2) October 2 – Lecture: Texture in Acrylics
Begin working on a painting incorporating one or more types of acrylic paint, plus an acrylic medium. Preliminary drawings are helpful and can be a good way to figure out whether adding collage is an option and which paint mediums might best support your image.
Class 3) October 9 – Continue Working
Continue developing your painting with an emphasis on surface, layering, and experimentation. Aim to push the interaction between image and material, and consider whether collage, texture mediums, or shifts in opacity can help strengthen the piece.
Class 4) October 16 – Demo: Acrylic Ink in Monochrome
I use acrylic ink as a substitute for regular ink, sumi ink, or India ink. I like that it allows me to create a specific mood through color while also using a medium that is more lightfast than watercolor. We’ll begin a monochromatic painting focused on fluid application, transparency, and layered mark-making.
Class 5) October 23 – Continue Work on Acrylic Ink Painting
Continue developing your acrylic ink painting. Focus on balancing washes, line, and layered passages while exploring how transparent and opaque elements can work together.
Class 6) October 30 – Continue Work on Acrylic Ink Painting
Continue working on the acrylic ink painting with the aim of resolving the composition. We’ll also discuss how to reintroduce drawing, sharper edges, or mixed media elements to reinforce structure and focus.
Class 7) November 6 – Demo: Collage and Mixed Media Additions
This week we’ll explore how collage and other mixed media elements can be integrated into acrylic painting. We’ll look at how added materials can activate the surface, interrupt space, and create new compositional possibilities. Begin a new painting or rework an existing one with collage and layered materials in mind.
Class 8) November 13 – Continue Mixed Media Painting
Continue developing your mixed media painting. Focus on editing, layering, and allowing the painting to shift as new materials and ideas enter the process.
Class 9) November 20 – Group Critique
Use this final class to bring one or more paintings to a more resolved state. We’ll end with a group critique and discussion about process, experimentation, and how each painting developed through layering, revision, and discovery.
POSSIBLE Supply List
Mediums
There is a TON of additives that we can add to acrylic color. Some add gloss, some thin the paint, some thicken the paint, some make it stringy, some make it matte, some add sandy texture, really the sky is the limit. We’ll go over a handful of these in class and experiment with what they can do.
Brushes- (suggested)- *Natural Hair Brushes or Synthetic Brushes
I like “Robert Simmons Signet Natural Bristle” brushes and Jack Richardson “Grey Matters” brushes, you can use any brand you like as long as they are “oil or acrylic” brushes and have a long handle
Heavy Body, Fluid Brushes (just have a variety, its up to you)
Rounds- Size 4
Filberts- Size 8, size 10
Flat- Size 6, 8, 12
Watercolor or High Flow Brushes (select some, not all)
Brush, large rounds (#8 and #16)
Watercolor Brush, large flat or chisel (#14 or #16)
Surfaces
two – three canvas, panel or paper (depending on your type of acrylic) size is up to you, but I’d suggest bigger than you think
Acrylic Paint Note:
Any acrylic paint will work for this Art Clinic. Any of these varieties will work just fine: “Heavy Body”, “Soft Body”, “Liquid”, “Open”, “High Flow” or “Fluid”. I think GOLDEN “High Flow” and “Fluid” work awesome in mixed media, so I have those colors listed below. If you have a color palette that is comfortable to your painting approach, please bring what works. If you would like additional suggestions on a palette that are for Heavy Body Acrylics, let me know and I can send you that list as well but it’s basically the same.
Suggested Paint High Flow or Fluid Colors 4 0z tubes
Benzimidazolone Yellow Light Naples Yellow
Pyrrole Orange
Naphthol Red Light OR Quinacridone Red
Permanent Alizarin Crimson (Hue) OR Quinacridone Magenta
French Ultramarine OR Pthalo Blue
Phthalo Green BS
Sap Green Hue OR Green Gold
Yellow Ochre OR Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide
Burnt Siena OR Transparent Red Iron Oxide
Burnt Umber
Titanium White (8oz or 160z)
Carbon Black
Not Important but FUN Paint Colors:
Teal
Neutral Gray N5
Permanent Violet Dark
Quinacridone / Nickel Azo Gold