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 © 2011/12 - Chester Kasnowski |
Cherry Trees The sun's influence, depositing both a deep shadow and a soft shape on the field, caught my attention. I used mineral spirits to make a thin oil pastel wash for the sky and mountain, and then worked directly with the oil sticks to apply colors for the foreground. I laid different colors side by side and blended the thick colors together with a rubber eraser. |
 © 2011/12 - Chester Kasnowski |
Iris Path This acrylic painting uses a high contrast and texture variation to show off the flowers as a group of colors. Working in the studio I can lay large canvases flat and work on large areas of gel and paint, create new colors and correct them by removing passages if necessary. The whole painting can be worked on at once and then dry without dust or insects getting into the swim. With oil pastels in the field, I can achieve similar results on a smaller scale and work flat or tilted with no drying time needed. |
 © 2011/12 - Chester Kasnowski |
Peonies I seek light or white shapes against dark backgrounds in nature to use in a painting. These peonies bloomed specifically that day for me to paint an oil pastel. I used a cotton swab and mineral spirits to apply the delicate color tones of the flowers. With a quick composition which I call the automatic golden section, the main floral subject filled about two-thirds of the left of the painting and the secondary path has the remaining one-third on the right. |
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Profile
Course dates: 21 July to 28 July 2012
Oil Pastels, Acrylic and Watercolours
Chester Kasnowski trained in traditional art practices and theories has always embraced and practiced contemporary art movements that showed promise and added to the tradition. He has exhibited his art worldwide in one-man as well as group shows since 1968. He works in Oil Pastels, as well a Acrylic painting and Watercolors which result in highly charged still-lifes, figures and landscapes that incorporate contemporary concerns and art-history foundation approaches.
Chester earned degrees from the Dayton Art Institute and Master of Art from Tulane University. Hei has taught art for more than 30 years, lectured, written art reviews, given workshops and was a curator of education at the New Orleans Museum of Art. He has received many awards including a National Endowment for the Arts grant. His works are in numerous private collections as well as museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, NY, the Guggenheim Museum, NY, the Tate Gallery, London and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. He is listed in Who's Who in American Art.
Chester says: "Each morning is like a blank canvas with a world of colors and shapes waiting to be discovered and translated by painting. My goal as an art teacher is to provide students with art confidence - the confidence to paint anything, anytime. You are an artist as long as you are making art. I set a comfortable, fun and enthusiastic working pace in an atmosphere of open communication. I present techniques, mediums, and art history to provide the students with options that will lead them toward individual interpretations. I often state, 'There are no mistakes making art. There is only the human propensity to lose focus. Thus I paint side by side with students and by example I help them over the hurdles of drifting thoughts to refocus for creating a personal, successful painting.
"I encourage the student to develop and refine the kinship with their technical skills, their ideas and their unique emotional expression. When these three fit together, the art work stands firmly and it will reward the artist. I work to teach the student enough art confidence that when alone in the studio with a blank canvas, no time is wasted before the first color is applied.
"I am forever grateful and honor three important teachers who taught and befriended me: Harold Carney, Meyer Schapiro and James Steven."
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