No Limits

A 3-day Painting Intensive

with Jesse Reno

For me painting is a sensory experience in every way. I love the feeling of each of my mediums and methods: drawing with clenched fist, wrong-handed, without looking, using my hands and palms to smear and mix acrylic paints, using brushes, scrapers, oil crayons, and pastels in any way that comes to mind. I'm always looking for new techniques to inspire me—painting in many reckless layers, searching for meaning in random intentions, then pulling out the images I begin to see. This is what I want to instill in my students—the excitement of the unexpected, and the freedom to create in ways that don't seem like they should work. The process removes the stress from painting, and reminds us not to put limitations on ourselves—to know that we can exceed our expectations in ways we never knew possible.

In this 3-day workshop we will explore a ton of techniques while working on multiple paintings during the course of the class. We’ll learn to mix colors, and gain an understanding of combining, and separating elements within a painting to get a truly mixed, yet cohesive look in our work. We’ll work on letting go of our pre-conceived ideas about painting; learning to see what’s really there rather than getting caught up in what we want to see; and enjoying the process rather than worrying about the outcome.

Working in this way ensures a fun experience in art making, and this is what keeps us coming back for more. The best way to excel at something is to enjoy yourself while doing it—having fun and letting go are the biggest lessons of this workshop. This class is open to students of all levels, regardless of background and knowledge of techniques. You’ll be introduced to a new way of creating with no limits; I hope you’ll join us!

Supply List

Click here for a printable supply list

• Acrylic paints in primary colors: red, yellow, blue white and black. The Blickrylic primary six pack would be ideal. You can find it here: http://www.dickblick.com/items/00711-1049/ If you already have paint you want to bring, any brand is fine as long as it is non-toxic, as it will be on our fingers during at least half the class.
• Three to five brushes of various sizes (I like at least one fan brush)—old and worn are great!
• Whatever surface you’d like to paint on, e.g., paper, cardboard, wood, masonite, etc. I don’t really like canvas as it doesn’t take pencil too well, but other than that, anything goes. Limit the size to 2’ x 2’.

I will supply Bristol paper, pastels and colored pencils.

Any questions, please contact me at jesse@jessereno.com