
Join George Van Hook, a nationally recognized artist has won numerous Plein Air competitions and awards from around the country for his oils and watercolors, for a four-day plein air workshop. George stresses allaprima painting and using a loose and fast approach to capture the landscape in the first try. Participants will be meeting on location and painting all day from 9am-4pm with a lunch provided. Workshop includes live demos and individual attention. Please bring your own plein air equipment, supports, and media (oil, pastel, watercolor, acrylic). Suggests medium to advanced, but all levels welcome.
We will begin each day with a demo by the artist. At that time, he will discuss composition, laying out the pallet, proper use of materials and all other aspects of plein air painting. We will then break up into groups and paint individually.
He will then provide individual instruction helping solve the issues for each artist. After lunch, he will do a quick demo to refresh the ideas presented at the start. Painters will start a second painting for the afternoon with additional individual instruction.
After 4 pm we can simply paint as a group. George has found this to be the most congenial and beneficial experience of the day. Evenings can be spent enjoying each others company in conversation about their experiences of the day.
Bio
George Van Hook was born and raised in Abington, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. He began painting very early and was able to participate in the vibrant artistic culture of the region. The family owned a farm in Bucks County, home of the Pennsylvania impressionists, and he became heavily influenced by their fine academic training coupled with a love of the prosaic landscape. Another early local influence was the Brandywine Traditional, the illustrative work of Howard Pyle and the generations of Wyeths. This was further enhanced by a close association with coastal Maine. George has spent many summers painting in the midcoast area of Rockland and Rockport Harbor, and on North Haven Island where his wife’s family owned property adjacent to the famous Boston artist Frank Benson.
Van Hook’s love of the European tradition also began early. He spent two summers during high school filmmaking throughout France and England. This allowed him to visit many of the great museums, and further increased his commitment to become a professional artist. Following college, he left for Paris and spent nearly a year copying at the Louvre and travelling through France, Italy and Holland making numerous paintings “en plein air”. He returned to California, where he continued painting the landscape and figure out of doors. After marriage and the start of a family, George returned to the East Coast, eventually settling in Cambridge, NY, a beautiful nineteenth century village in the Hudson Valley. His wife is a Mycological Consultant for Ecovative. Their three daughters were often models for his paintings when younger, and are now grown and successfully independent. More About George Van Hook
Materials and Supplies List
The workshop will focus on the fundamentals of both oil and watercolor painting, but the emphasis will be painting the landscape in oil en plein air. This class will cover both oil and watercolor, and pastel if anyone wants. However, I intend to focus primarily on oil painting. _GVH
Please bring any and all materials that you currently use and are comfortable with.
I DO recommend the following:
COLORS
Ultramarine Blue
Cobalt Blue
Alizarin Crimson
Cadmium Red Light
Cadmium Orange
Viridian Green
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Yellow Light
Titanium White
</span
PAINT
I use a lot of paint, and buy these in the large tubes. Please bring a good quality/quantity of paint.
I use Winsor Newton and Gamblin ,but use your judgment.
I use Gamsol with some Liquin as a medium.-GVH
BRUSHES
Bring plenty of Brushes.
Flats, # 2,4,6,8,10&12, natural bristle, and any filberts or rounds that you usually use. For watercolor, a wide selection of sable brushes, both flat and round.
PAINTING SURFACES
Please bring a large number of smaller panels, 8-10″,9-12″,11-14″,12-16″. Any of these sizes that you are comfortable with.
Watercolor: several sheets or blocks of 140-lb cold pressed paper, of a good quality.
We’ll all be doing 2-4 paintings a day, so please be ready to work quickly on a variety of surfaces. Panels are better for this work than stretched canvas, and cheaper too!
MISC.
A good, sturdy easel that allows you to work outside and sets up easily, painting medium, thinner, rags, paper towels, trash bag, etc. Basically anything else that you want and are comfortable with. Many artists like to use an umbrella. Don’t forget your hat, eye protection, sun screen, and water! I recommend this highly!
-July 22, 2021
(July 20, 2021)
Join George Van Hook, a nationally recognized artist has won numerous Plein Air competitions and awards from around the country for his oils and watercolors, for a four-day plein air workshop. George stresses allaprima painting and using a loose and fast approach to capture the landscape in the first try. Participants will be meeting on location and painting all day from 9am-4pm with a lunch provided. Workshop includes live demos and individual attention. Please bring your own plein air equipment, supports, and media (oil, pastel, watercolor, acrylic). Suggests medium to advanced, but all levels welcome.
We will begin each day with a demo by the artist. At that time, he will discuss composition, laying out the pallet, proper use of materials and all other aspects of plein air painting. We will then break up into groups and paint individually.
He will then provide individual instruction helping solve the issues for each artist. After lunch, he will do a quick demo to refresh the ideas presented at the start. Painters will start a second painting for the afternoon with additional individual instruction.
After 4 pm we can simply paint as a group. George has found this to be the most congenial and beneficial experience of the day. Evenings can be spent enjoying each others company in conversation about their experiences of the day.
Bio
George Van Hook was born and raised in Abington, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. He began painting very early and was able to participate in the vibrant artistic culture of the region. The family owned a farm in Bucks County, home of the Pennsylvania impressionists, and he became heavily influenced by their fine academic training coupled with a love of the prosaic landscape. Another early local influence was the Brandywine Traditional, the illustrative work of Howard Pyle and the generations of Wyeths. This was further enhanced by a close association with coastal Maine. George has spent many summers painting in the midcoast area of Rockland and Rockport Harbor, and on North Haven Island where his wife’s family owned property adjacent to the famous Boston artist Frank Benson.
Van Hook’s love of the European tradition also began early. He spent two summers during high school filmmaking throughout France and England. This allowed him to visit many of the great museums, and further increased his commitment to become a professional artist. Following college, he left for Paris and spent nearly a year copying at the Louvre and travelling through France, Italy and Holland making numerous paintings “en plein air”. He returned to California, where he continued painting the landscape and figure out of doors. After marriage and the start of a family, George returned to the East Coast, eventually settling in Cambridge, NY, a beautiful nineteenth century village in the Hudson Valley. His wife is a Mycological Consultant for Ecovative. Their three daughters were often models for his paintings when younger, and are now grown and successfully independent. More About George Van Hook
Materials and Supplies List
The workshop will focus on the fundamentals of both oil and watercolor painting, but the emphasis will be painting the landscape in oil en plein air. This class will cover both oil and watercolor, and pastel if anyone wants. However, I intend to focus primarily on oil painting. _GVH
Please bring any and all materials that you currently use and are comfortable with.
I DO recommend the following:
COLORS
Ultramarine Blue
Cobalt Blue
Alizarin Crimson
Cadmium Red Light
Cadmium Orange
Viridian Green
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Yellow Light
Titanium White
</span
PAINT
I use a lot of paint, and buy these in the large tubes. Please bring a good quality/quantity of paint.
I use Winsor Newton and Gamblin ,but use your judgment.
I use Gamsol with some Liquin as a medium.-GVH
BRUSHES
Bring plenty of Brushes.
Flats, # 2,4,6,8,10&12, natural bristle, and any filberts or rounds that you usually use. For watercolor, a wide selection of sable brushes, both flat and round.
PAINTING SURFACES
Please bring a large number of smaller panels, 8-10″,9-12″,11-14″,12-16″. Any of these sizes that you are comfortable with.
Watercolor: several sheets or blocks of 140-lb cold pressed paper, of a good quality.
We’ll all be doing 2-4 paintings a day, so please be ready to work quickly on a variety of surfaces. Panels are better for this work than stretched canvas, and cheaper too!
MISC.
A good, sturdy easel that allows you to work outside and sets up easily, painting medium, thinner, rags, paper towels, trash bag, etc. Basically anything else that you want and are comfortable with. Many artists like to use an umbrella. Don’t forget your hat, eye protection, sun screen, and water! I recommend this highly!
[if 74]Details/More Info[/if 74][if 75]Registration Form[/ if 119]
Location: Gibson House Bed & Breakfast, 341 Dartmouth College Highway Route 10 and Court Street Haverhill, New Hampshire 03765
Contact: George Van Hook
518-538-2900
Plein Air Landscape Painting

Paint the summer colors at this beautiful and historic location overlooking the beautiful Connecticut River Valley while relaxing in the comfort of the Gibson House Inn.
This workshop will focus on Plein air landscape painting and will be open to all abilities.
I have been painting in the watercolor medium for over forty-five years. One of my main objectives in watercolor painting is to create light through the use of shadow. In painting ordinary images, I find a fascinating interplay between the two. The transparency of the medium helps in bringing shadows alive while allowing the light to glow.
My recent paintings have emphasized close focus features of a particular subject giving the piece an almost abstract quality, with great attention placed on composition and value. I have also been exploring portraiture and figurative works. One of my objectives is to transform mundane, everyday scenes into beautiful works of art.
Robert is a Signature Member of the American and National Watercolor Societies as well as several others including the New England Watercolor Society. He has studied with noted watercolorists including James Whatford, Tony Couch, and Marshall Joyce NA AWS.
His work was featured in the December 2011 / February 2012 issue of the Art de Aquarelle and in Splash 15, the Best of Watercolor. He teaches workshops locally, throughout the United States and abroad.
Bio
Born 1954, in Rochester, NY, Robert O’Brien has been painting in the watercolor medium for thirty years. Since moving to Vermont in 1977, he has focused his work on landscape and architectural studies. Vermont, with its distinct four-season climate, provides the artist with a wealth of subject matter and ever-changing light effects.
The artist finds beauty in the ordinary, subtle reminders of everyday life in rural New England. In his own words, he is driven “to capture the vanishing landscape in my paintings” before they disappear forever as a result of the steady hand of “progress.” More About Robert J. O’Brien
-July 29, 2021
(July 27, 2021)
Paint the summer colors at this beautiful and historic location overlooking the beautiful Connecticut River Valley while relaxing in the comfort of the Gibson House Inn.
This workshop will focus on Plein air landscape painting and will be open to all abilities.
I have been painting in the watercolor medium for over forty-five years. One of my main objectives in watercolor painting is to create light through the use of shadow. In painting ordinary images, I find a fascinating interplay between the two. The transparency of the medium helps in bringing shadows alive while allowing the light to glow.
My recent paintings have emphasized close focus features of a particular subject giving the piece an almost abstract quality, with great attention placed on composition and value. I have also been exploring portraiture and figurative works. One of my objectives is to transform mundane, everyday scenes into beautiful works of art.
Robert is a Signature Member of the American and National Watercolor Societies as well as several others including the New England Watercolor Society. He has studied with noted watercolorists including James Whatford, Tony Couch, and Marshall Joyce NA AWS.
His work was featured in the December 2011 / February 2012 issue of the Art de Aquarelle and in Splash 15, the Best of Watercolor. He teaches workshops locally, throughout the United States and abroad.
Bio
Born 1954, in Rochester, NY, Robert O’Brien has been painting in the watercolor medium for thirty years. Since moving to Vermont in 1977, he has focused his work on landscape and architectural studies. Vermont, with its distinct four-season climate, provides the artist with a wealth of subject matter and ever-changing light effects.
The artist finds beauty in the ordinary, subtle reminders of everyday life in rural New England. In his own words, he is driven “to capture the vanishing landscape in my paintings” before they disappear forever as a result of the steady hand of “progress.” More About Robert J. O’Brien
[if 74]Details/More Info[/if 74][if 75]Registration Form[/ if 119]
Location: Gibson House Bed & Breakfast, 341 Dartmouth College Highway Route 10 and Court Street Haverhill, New Hampshire 03765
Contact: Robert J. O’Brien
802-263-9394
Celebrate National Tourism Week: Explore Your Local World
Many of us have been home-bound for weeks due to COVID-19 and are hungry for a change of scenery. Next week, May 3-9, is National Travel and Tourism Week and a great time to get into the Spirit of Travel by taking a short Staycation.
Although many parks and local trails are temporarily closed, you can still explore your neighborhood or local community by taking a daily walk to enjoy all the May flowers. Plan on taking a different route each day during your Staycation.
For those willing to venture out by car, taking a leisurely drive close to home is a way to explore the world around you and see something new. Every state in our Nation has one or more distinct and diverse routes designated as America’s Byways and All-American Roads. Chances are there is a scenic route or road less traveled near you that you never took the time to explore. Don’t miss the opportunity to enjoy Spring and celebrate the #Spirit of Travel.
America’s Most Scenic Road Trips
The Most Scenic Drive in Every State
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