About
I teach a weekly painting class in Sarasota appropriate for beginning - advanced painters. Details and pics on my website at jennyberry.com
I've been teaching this class for over ten years, helping people improve their skills and often even paint their very first painting. My goal is to make the process fun and easy so you learn but it feels effortless.
We meet once a week for three hours (I provide all materials) and we grow our skills over time, if you think you're too much of a beginner, I assure you - you are not! I've heard that a lot over the years and everyone has been pleasantly surprised and enjoyed themselves. If you're wondering if you may be too advanced, I get very specific about what I teach on my website, see if there's something you may be interested in learning.
One of my areas of focus is color theory. In most of my paintings I use a primary palette of just three colors but in my very colorful work I sometimes will use five. I love playing around with color. I also love talking about the narrative aspect of paintings as well. What story is the painting is telling us? They're all saying something. Another thing I find we painters often lack is a design background so our compositional skills can fall short, yet that is supposed to be what we build an entire painting on. There is so much to making a great painting that doesn't actually involve painting.
If you are interested in coming as a group for a workshop, that can be arranged. I've done many of those, just message me. We can do a basic workshop or have a theme like pet painting, shore birds or portraits.
In my regular weekly class, students paint whatever subject they want and I supply all of the materials.
Below are recent pics of some of my work. I included some oil and some acrylic and some "tighter" studio work and some "loose" studies too.
I've got more details and pics of class on my website jennyberry.com
Specialties
Experience level
Painting type
Painting medium
Number of students
Student age(s)
Photos and videos
Reviews
Janet L.
Suzanne C.
Diane. D.
Helen R.
Frequently asked questions
What is your typical process for working with a new student?
Each student has different needs and different goals. Some are very loose and expressive and others very true to the reference. From day one I begin trying to figure out how I can best help each person be their best painter.
We paint from photographs in this class and I provide the photos and all materials but after the first painting many students start to shoot their own reference and bring in their own materials as to their preference. We are very flexible in here.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I have a Bachelor's degree in figure drawing/graphic design and I've taken workshops, done mentorships and continue to study every year with some of the most respected representational and abstract painters working today. I believe we should never stop learning new ways of looking at painting. Every time I come home from a workshop I attack my painting with new energy.
Do you have a standard pricing system for your lessons? If so, please share the details here.
All pricing details are on my website.
How did you get started teaching?
Both of my parents are teachers so I've been around it my whole life. Listening to them talk at the dinner table growing up. It just seems so natural, how to explain things.
I remember when I was learning to paint, pre-YouTube, before the days of the internet. There was only one book that I could find called "How To Paint Like The Masters" and it was utterly useless practically speaking. It was about 30 pages long but it was all I had.
I couldn't find a teacher that knew anything. I remember how badly I wanted to learn. I think feeling that way, that terrible frustration, was one of the biggest drivers that got me into teaching.
And the bad info I see out there now is one of the things that keeps me teaching! I want people to get the right info from the start. I did a lot wrong at first because I was self taught in the beginning. Once I learned the right way it was so much easier. We talk a lot about basic studio practices in class too.
What types of students have you worked with?
I have worked with people that have never picked up a brush before. In fact if you look at pics on my website more than one of the pics you'll see there are from people doing their first painting. I've worked with very advanced oil painters who want to improve their techniques, especially in portraiture, one of my favorite things to do is model flesh and work with skintones and mix color.
I can talk about color and color theory and color mixing for hours. I've worked with students just on that.
I have worked with students who realized that acrylics are wonderful for some things but they're not the best for representational painting, oils are better because they blend, they stay open, they neutralize easier and much more.
I use both pretty much daily and both have their place but for representational painting (unless a painter has a unique style that relies on properties of acrylic paint of course!) generally oil is going to give you what you want. I've worked with many people making the switch. I work with an oil paint company that is completely non-toxic so even if they made the decision for health reasons they can now oil paint safely. I have a completely toxin free oil painting studio.
If you want to paint with acrylics in this class it's okay. I provide oils for free. Like I said, we're flexible.