Workshops at Locations Other Than Koo's Studio

ONLINE WORKSHOP

Open for Enrollment with Unlimited Access:
Egg Tempera, The Luminous Medium
Hosted through Acorn Arts
See right for course details.
Register at Acorn Arts >

2023

June 4 - 10, 2023
Egg Tempera Painting with Koo Schadler 
Open to all levels of painter, from beginner to advanced.
Hudson River Valley Art Workshops
Greenville, NY 
For more information and to register contact: 
Email: info@artworkshops.com
Phone: 518-966-5219

2024

June 2 - 8, 2024
Egg Tempera Painting with Koo Schadler
Open to all levels of painter, from beginner to advanced.
Hudson River Valley Art Workshops
Greenville, NY
For more information and to register contact:
Email: info@artworkshops.com Phone: 518-966-5219

Comments from Past Workshop Participants

"It has been less than a month since your excellent introduction to egg tempera painting, and I want to thank you for the best workshop I’ve ever taken. I really appreciated your individualized approach to instruction. I learned more about painting in that one week than in all of art school."

"I want to thank you again for everything. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and your patience. I also appreciated the time you took to critique my work."

"Not to sound melodramatic, but your workshop has totally blown me away... thank you again for a truly wonderful week."

"The class was one of the most memorable and fantastic weeks of my life! I only wish I could have learned this stuff years ago. Thanks again for being so generous with your knowledge."

"Thank you soooo much for the fantastic workshop. I am very inspired and... have a feeling that the week I spent [in your workshop] will be a pivotal one. I am treasuring the whole experience."

"I really enjoyed this workshop and can’t wait to take my new knowledge into the studio. You’ve given me so much inspiration, both technically and artistically. Many, many thanks."

"Your class far exceeded my hopes and expectations (which were pretty high to begin with!). You gave me the technical information I needed."

Koo is hosting workshops at her NH studio again. Students come from all over the world, work in close proximity with one another, and share many communal supplies; hence proof of covid vaccination is required to attend. Read Koo's Covid Policy. Visit the Studio Workshops page for Koo's 2022 studio dates and details. 

Koo offers the following workshops:

• Online Workshop
• Egg Tempera I
• Egg Tempera II
• Still Life in Egg Tempera
• Portrait in Egg Tempera
• Alumni Week
• Three-Day Egg Tempera Workshop
• Three-Day Silverpoint Workshop
• Composition and Design Workshop

All workshops are open to all levels of painters. Alumni of Koo's workshops can customize the curriculum of any class to suit current goals.

Egg Tempera, The Luminous Medium is open for enrollment now!
This is the same class offered in 2020 and 2021, with the following changes:

• UNLIMITED, ONGOING ACCESS. You can watch videos whenever you like, for as long as you like. Essentially, the course doesn’t have an end date.
• SPECIAL FORUM for students to share work, thoughts and questions about egg tempera. I'll occasionally check in on the forum to comment and contribute.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: In this comprehensive, pre-recorded course, Koo leads students through a step-by-step process to create a small yet detailed still life, Wild Rose and Beauty. Bonus videos: Creating a Light Effect to increase luminosity; and Color Attributes for greater proficiency in color mixing. And an in-depth booklet and color chart included as free downloads. Closed captioning is available. Lessons include:

HOW TO REGISTER: Visit the Acorn Arts website >

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Egg Tempera I

Old as the Egyptians and most famous during the Renaissance, egg tempera painting is becoming increasingly popular with artists today. Tempera has unsurpassed luminosity. Dozens of glazes and scumbles can be applied in a day, and yet the medium also allows for meticulous linear detailing. 

In this comprehensive five day workshop students will learn all aspects of the medium: egg tempera’s rich history, how to make genuine gesso panels starting from scratch, the characteristics of powdered pigments, how to mix fresh paint, dozens of ways to apply the paint, how to finish an egg tempera painting (including oil glazing over tempera), as well as some of the design principles that underlie old master painting.

Among the topics and demonstrations students may select from are:

Note: This is the only workshop in which students make true gesso panels from scratch. In all other egg tempera workshops there is no gesso demonstration; instead students are provided with pre-made panels.

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Egg Tempera II

Old as the Egyptians and most famous during the Renaissance, egg tempera painting is becoming increasingly popular with artists today. Tempera has unsurpassed luminosity. Dozens of glazes and scumbles can be applied in a day, and yet the medium also allows for meticulous linear detailing.

This comprehensive five-day workshop offers the opportunity for in-depth work in egg tempera: students will spend five full days working on a painting of their own design. Koo will help with the initial planning stages, provide on-going discussion and critiques, give painting demonstrations, and discuss the important design elements of old master painting. 

Open to all levels of painters, from beginner to advanced.  A demonstration on the essentials of working in egg tempera will be provided for beginning students.

Among the topics and demonstrations students may select from are:

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Still Life in Egg Tempera

With its ability to render fine detail, create different textures, and build up countless glazes and scumbles, egg tempera is beautifully suited for still life. In this workshop you learn how to create a luminous egg tempera still life painting from start to finish. Koo discusses in depth the importance of the set-up, taking into consideration light, values, color, warm and cool, shapes, textures, and edges. There will be painting demonstrations as well as ongoing individual instruction and critiques. Koo will also work on a painting of her own, so you can see firsthand how she develops an egg tempera still life. A photography session will show you how to create visually strong still life photographs that already look like beautifully designed paintings. You may work from either life, your own photographs, or from photos of still lifes provided by Koo.

Open to all levels of painters, from beginner to advanced.  A demonstration on the essentials of working in egg tempera will be provided for beginning students.

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Portrait in Egg Tempera

Egg tempera is renown for its luminosity, making it an ideal medium for rendering the human face. In this workshop you will learn every step of how to develop a portrait in egg tempera, with ongoing individual instruction and critiques from Koo. Koo explains the traditional Old Master palette used to develop flesh tones. She will also work on a painting of her own, so you can see firsthand how she develops her egg tempera portraits. The workshop includes a photography session in which you learn how to light and pose a model, to create visually strong photographs that already look like beautifully designed paintings. You may work from your own photographs, from photos supplied by Koo, or from a copy of an Old Master egg tempera portrait.

Open to all levels of painters, from beginner to advanced. A demonstration on the essentials of working in egg tempera will be provided for beginning students.

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Alumni Week

This workshop, which has no introductory lessons, offers Koo Schadler alumni more time to focus on individual projects. Students can select from an extensive list of painting demonstrations given by Koo. Alumni customize the week to focus on what they most want to accomplish in their painting. Open to students who have taken any of Koo's workshops.

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Three-Day Egg Tempera Workshop

This three-day class is to accommodate students for whom time and resources are limited. It covers all the essentials of egg tempera painting: how to prepare and transfer an image, pigments, making paint, a variety of brushwork, and how to finish a tempera painting. Each student will be given a 6" x 8" panel to paint on, and can work from either an image supplied by Koo or one of their own.

Open to all levels of painters, from beginner to advanced. A demonstration on the essentials of working in egg tempera will be provided for beginning students.

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Three-Day Silverpoint Workshop

The traditional technique of "metalpoint" (drawing with a metal nib), more commonly known as silverpoint, is increasingly popular. This workshop offers students the opportunity to draw with a variety of metal tips including silver, brass, and copper. Koo will explain all aspects of the medium: how to prepare a variety of surfaces to work on, adding highlights and colors to a drawing, the tarnishing process, and more. Students will make several different drawing surfaces starting from scratch. Each student goes home with Koo’s in-depth instruction booklet and a complete drawing kit to continue working in the medium. Open to all levels, from complete beginners to experienced draftsmen.

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Composition and Design Workshop

Does the answer to great painting lie in the materials used, or the working method? Not necessarily either: after all, masterpieces have been made from many different mediums and methods. Instead, what underlies all great art is a common visual language organized by universal design principles. Understanding this language and its organizing principles is essential to improving as a painter.

All of my classes discuss design principles to a degree, but none goes into as much depth as the Composition and Design workshop. A full five days are devoted to understanding the powerfully compelling, time-tested compositional principles of traditional painting. Guided by a wall of images that outline the history of western art, we engage in extensive study and discussion of paintings old and new. Students learn to recognize and incorporate within their own work the most important visual elements and compositional principles. Practical experience is gained through hands-on painting exercises. A photography session shows students how to create visually strong reference photographs that already look like beautifully designed paintings. Students also are encouraged to bring work of their own for discussion and critique.

 Visual elements and principles to be studied include:

Open to artists of any medium or skill level, art historians, and anyone who wants to understand the history of western art, traditional design, and what makes paintings great.

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