September’s theme is All About Birger Sandzén!

September 20th, 2025

During the September classes, students will create a pencil and chalk pastel landscape inspired by legendary Lindsborg, KS artist Birger Sandzén while learning about the use of complementary colors, perspective, smudging, contrast, and contour lines.

Groups A and B will first be shown images of Birger Sandzén’s landscape paintings and Kansas landscapes. There will be a brief discussion on the types of things we see outside — hills, trees, crops, etc. and how Sandzén painted them (emphasis on brushstroke, texture, and color contrasts). Students will then be guided through drawing a landscape first using pencil to draw hills, fields, etc. Students will be instructed on drawing a background, middle-ground, and foreground in their landscapes. Students are welcome to follow along or make their landscape a little different from the instructor’s example. Students will be encouraged to add general details such as trees, water, etc., and instruction will be given on how to draw these.

Before adding color, complementary colors will be introduced with a color wheel and different color pairs will be discussed as well as their use in Sandzén’s paintings. Students will have pairs of complementary colors to work with, and will be encouraged to alternate their use of color throughout the drawing, as well as outline parts of the landscape in the complementary color. The use of brushstrokes in Sandzén’s paintings will also be discussed, and the instructor will show how to emulate the direction of growth of trees and grass using the pastels. Students will be shown how to use a complementary color to add extra detail and contour lines using color complements. For advanced students, the use of smudging to blend colors or soften edges will be shown.

October’s theme is Fall Collage!

October 4th, 2025

During the October classes, students will create a fall collage of autumn leaves and pumpkins using paper and acrylic paints while learning about warm and cool colors, contour, and collage/texture.

Group A and B will begin the lesson with a discussion of warm and cool colors and associations that we make with them (how they make us feel, seasons or objects that we think of). Students will be given acrylic paint divided up by warm and cool colors. Students will be shown how to create texture on the papers using acrylic paint and various objects such as bubble wrap, string, cardboard, etc. Students will be encouraged to use all warm or all cool colors on each painted paper to create contrast in their collage. After creating several painted papers, students will allow them to dry.

While the painted papers are drying, students will draw a background for their collage of pumpkin vines and autumn leaves. Instruction will be given on how to draw basic vine and leaf shapes. For a more advanced option, students will be shown how to draw specific types of leaves (maple, oak, etc.). Once the painted papers are dry, students will draw leaf and pumpkin shapes on the painted paper and will then cut out these shapes and glue them onto the collage background. Layering of warm and cool shapes will be encouraged. Additional details can be drawn on top if the students would like.