Princeton Art Studios

Creating a still life composition with fresh flowers using acrylic paint.

Dates:   August 28-31

Time: 1:30pm - 4:30pm

This four-session workshop focuses on capturing the beauty of fresh flowers in a still life composition using acrylic paint. Working first from life and later from photographs, students will explore foundational acrylic techniques while learning to observe form, structure, light, and shadow in everyday subjects.

We’ll begin with a hands-on introduction to the properties of acrylic paint—fast drying, versatile, and ideal for layered work. Students will engage in preparatory studies and composition sketches to plan their still life layout thoughtfully before moving to canvas.

Starting with a bouquet of live flowers, we’ll practice direct observation and sketching to understand organic shapes, overlapping forms, and the interplay of color. We’ll then shift to working from reference photographs, which allow for greater control and detail over time.

As a group, we’ll discuss stylistic direction—whether to pursue a traditional, classical approach or something more modern and expressive. Each student is welcome to follow their own creative vision within the broader framework of still life composition.

Instruction includes:

• Building a composition through sketches and color studies.
• Underpainting to block in values and set structure.
• Layering acrylic paint to develop form, from shadow to highlight.
• Adding refinement and detail to complete the piece.

Students will be guided through observing light direction, subtle shifts in tone, and how to convey dimensionality through brushwork and color. Emphasis will be placed on translating what we see into expressive yet grounded visual language.