Classes

Our Classes will offer hours of instruction on a specific art topic, medium, style or technique.

UPCOMING CLASSES

  • THE HAPPY HABIT OF DAILY (or almost daily) PAINTING (online) 

  • THE HAPPY HABIT OF DAILY (or almost daily) PAINTING (in person) 

The Happy Habit of Daily (or almost daily) Painting by Mónica Linares

January – February 2025 – 5 TUESDAYS

4-Week (5 meetings) Class Description

Why this class? If you are here, you probably know!
I created this class because I struggled with finding time to paint, to make it a priority. And I well knew that the more we paint the better we become at painting. It is very easy to say! I knew the theory, but how to put it into practice when we have so much to do every day?

In 2018 I finally did it! I painted most days (and still do!). How did I do it?

I did some serious research on habit formation and also a fantastic opportunity showed up. I’ll share all I learned with you during the time we’ll be together. I’ll help you form your happy habit of daily (or almost daily) painting, yes yours! We are all different and have different needs, routines and activities, but we all can create a habit if we really want to, have the right tools, and have the right motivation. This class will give you all that, you just have to bring the “really wanting to” part.

THIS CLASS WILL OFFER YOU:

  • The 4 pillars needed to form the habit of daily (or almost daily) painting.
  • The right motivation, practical ideas, and how some master painters do it.
  • Painting exercises that’ll help you create the habit of showing up at your easel most days.
  • A tribe of like-minded people with the common goal of creating this happy habit.

DATE: four weeks, 5 meetings (1 meeting per week, and a final one)
LOCATION: in person @ North Carolina Museum of Art OR online  @Winslow Arts Center
SUPPLIES LIST:  Included on the Registration Page
MEDIUM: Acrylics or oils (demonstrations will be in acrylics)
LEVEL: Previous painting experience required (not for beginners)

REGISTER HERE FOR ONLINE CLASS

REGISTER HERE FOR IN-PERSON CLASS

_________________________________________________________________

Paint a Bunch with Intention, the power of painting in series by Mónica Linares

  • DATE: TBD

4-Week Class Description – I’ll be demoing flowers. You can work on the theme of your preference: landscape, still life, interiors, cityscape, floral

I realized that what I enjoy teaching the most is giving you structure, accountability, motivation, the right challenge, and enough technical information to keep you going so you can paint daily or frequently enough for you to explore and get better at painting, and most importantly, to find your own and unique voice.

You all have a strong foundation by studying on your own, through workshops and classes, or by being a Happy Habit alumnus; you know the theory and the practice needed to paint frequently, but sometimes if we are not surrounded by a community that keeps us accountable we lose track of time, start prioritizing other things and before we know it, our daily painting practice is gone.

The second thing that can happen is that we keep painting frequently but become “painterly disperse”. We try a little bit of this and a little bit of that without a painting goal, without thinking: What do I want? How do I want to grow? Where do I focus? Sometimes that’s great! but sometimes we need some parameters to push us in one direction and find consistency and steady growth until we want to shift and grow in another direction. Based on my experience, focusing on one subject for some time helps a lot!

That’s why I am offering a month-long class. I will take a maximum of 10 students because I want to have enough time to dedicate to all of you. I will help you build, or start building, a body of work based on photo references. Creating a body of work, or working in series, will help you learn all you can about one subject. It will help you find consistency which is wonderful if you are planning on exhibiting, creating a portfolio to bring to a gallery, or as simple as sharing your work on social media. And it will help you find your voice!

We will make a plan, and create structure, I’ll guide you where you need it and offer accountability for you to start building a consistent body of work. In other words: To paint a bunch with intention!

REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS CLASS

Preferably being a Happy Habit Alumni or having previous painting experience

To have a painting subject you want to dedicate a month to Landscape, Cityscape, Still life or Interior. I will be doing a floral demo first day of class.

To have at least 20 photos taken by you to work from for the whole month. Bring them printed or on a tablet.

To paint most days (you don’t need to finish a painting a day, but you have to paint or sketch most days)

Being flexible! This is a very malleable class. Depending on the painting subject you choose, the content could vary a bit. This will be a growing experience for you and for me!

What will happen during these two hours?

First I will share technical information (one painting topic per week: values, composition, color, consistency, and putting it all together) and one well-known artist exhibit per week. Then I will assign you homework, do a quick demo of it, and will answer any questions you might have (we won’t go over two hours in total). Then you will go to your easel and start your first assignment.

REGISTER HERE

_________________________________________________________________

The Essence of Painting by Mónica Linares

(FOR BEGINNERS)

  • DATE: TBD
  • TIME: TBD
  • MEDIUM: Acrylics
  • LEVEL: Beginners
  • FEE: TBD
  • SUPPLIES LIST: on the registration page
  • REGISTER HERE

If you want to seriously start painting, this is the class for you.

I believe in solid foundations, and that is what this painting class for beginners will give you. You will finish this class knowing the basics of value, color and composition, how to apply them to your paintings and I will guide you step by step, from start to finish, on your first (or third!) still life painting (we will paint from photos and from life). I will also share with you best studio practices that will help you paint frequently because that’s the secret to improve faster.

With these essentials, you will be able to continue exploring the wonderful world of painting on your own…until we meet in a future class 😉

How will it work?

We will meet 4 consecutive weeks in person. During the first 3 weeks we’ll talk about one painting topic each week (value, color and composition) and you will do a painting exercise right after the talk. Monica will do a  demo on the first day of class.

You will have access to an online step by step painting demonstration. That way you can also paint along me at your own pace whenever you want.

On the 4th day we will meet again to talk about your work, paint, and answer any questions.

We will paint with acrylics.

________________________________________________________________________

ArTribe

DATES: TBD

TIME: TBD
FEE: TBD
LOCATION:  Coffee shops
WHAT TO BRING:  your beautiful and artistic self
STUDENTS: Happy Habit and Paint a Bunch alumni                                                      

INTERESTED IN THIS? e-mail us at info@paintingmiles.com

We created ArTribe after a wonderful group of artists working on becoming daily painters (from our Happy Habit class) requested a way to stay in touch, motivated, in painting shape, and inside a daily painters (or most day painters) tribe! We artists know how lonely the life of an artist can be. In our studios (and our heads!) all the time! Thinking, solving, seeing, creating, and knowing how much we need connection with other thinkers and creators to feel supported (and understood!). We need to build a community of like-minded people!

Come to ArTribe to connect with your peers and stay for up to 2 hours of art growth, inspiration, and conversation. 

Topics that we will discuss:

  • -Art Business
  • -Social Media and art
  • -Painting techniques
  • -Artists to follow and be inspired by
  • -Art opportunities
  • -Daily Painting Exhibition
  • -Art Growth
  • -Creativity
  • -Materials
  • -Painting challenges
  • -Painting exercises
  • -Propose an art topic to be discussed

This will also be a place to share information about opportunities for painters, exhibitions, lectures, and anything that can keep us stay motivated to paint daily.

For Happy Habit and Paint a Bunch alumni.