Expressive Acrylics
ABOUT THIS CLASS
Expressive Acrylic Painting builds on the foundations of Beginning Acrylic and begins moving from individual elements and objects into more complete compositions and a more individual way of working with paint. We’ll continue strengthening brushwork, color mixing, value, shape, edges, layering, and paint handling, but now we’ll look more closely at what happens when all of those elements have to work together across an entire painting. Through studies and increasingly developed compositions, we’ll practice simplifying what we see, deciding what deserves attention, creating relationships between objects and spaces, and using color, brushwork, movement, and paint application with more intention. Being expressive doesn’t mean throwing out the foundations. It comes from understanding them well enough that you have choices. The goal is to move beyond simply painting an object and begin thinking about the whole painting: what matters, what can be left out, where the eye goes, how the painting feels, and how your own way of seeing and handling paint becomes part of the work. Each class builds on the last, with room to experiment, make stronger decisions, try things that may or may not work, and develop a painting practice that keeps growing with you.
Interested in Education Access, Teacher & Military Discounts please contact Kelli Johnson at kjohnson@academycenter.org for more information.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Instructor : Toby Penney
Toby teaches painting and watercolor with a practical, approachable focus on understanding what your materials can actually do: how paint behaves, what a brush can do, how color works, and how the choices we make change what happens on the page or canvas. She breaks those ideas into manageable pieces, building strong foundations. Whether someone is picking up a brush for the first time or returning after years away, her classes make room for curiosity, experimentation, and the confidence that comes from understanding what you’re doing and why.
Based in Lynchburg, Toby is an internationally exhibiting artist whose personal practice moves across painting, watercolor, printmaking, sculpture, photography, and book arts.
Find more of Toby’s work at tobypenney.com.
