Gavin Snyder's Painting the Griffith Observatory

Gavin Snider is an artist who lives and works in New York. He spends his days painting the city and its people. This workshop will focus on plein air watercolor painting. We'll take on the architecture of The Griffith Observatory and the landscape that surrounds it.

REGISTER HERE! Your Meetup RSVP won't hold your spot.

We’ll practice building up a painting from light to dark, carving out a scene with increasing detail. Gavin will show you how to harness the unexpected and go straight to the blank page, embracing the idea that you’re not creating a painting but documenting an experience.
This workshop is intended for painters of all experience levels, from beginner to professional. A few days before the workshop, the exact meeting spot will be confirmed via email.

UPDATE
Brushes, paper, paint, palettes, clips, and water cups WILL be provided for the workshop. Guests are encouraged to bring a drawing board or surface to rest their paper on, and a stool to sit on, as well as any materials they're comfortable working with, even beyond watercolor.
A detailed list of supplies that Gavin uses are listed below.
These are the materials Gavin uses for outdoor painting:

• 2 round watercolor brushes, one large for washes, one medium/small for details. A fine tip is more important than size. Gavin uses a size 10-12 brush for washes and a size 3-6 brush for details.
• Arches watercolor block, 140 lb Cold press, 10x14 in size, or fairly similar large, thick paper with a bit of texture. (The watercolor block is nice because it doesn't need to be taped down.)
• Travel palette. Art Toolkit has some wonderful palette options.
• 2 water cups and a sketch board with holes to hold them. Woodward & Father make great sketchboards that come with water cups.
• Travel stool (Though most of the time Gavin stands to paint, this is not always the most comfortable approach. He uses a Walkstool Basic.)
• Bulldog clips to hold materials down (especially helpful for individual watercolor pages)

Paint colors are listed in order of relevance to the observatory. The watercolor brand and quality matters less than the technique and the paper quality. Some of his preferred colors and their uses are listed below.

• Winsor & Newton Prussian Blue - Skies
• Winsor & Newton Yellow Ochre - Facades & Sidewalks
• Daniel Smith Moonglow - Shadows
• Daniel Smith Indigo - Shadows and Details
• Winsor & Newton Burnt Sienna - Brick
• Winsor & Newton Winsor Green (Blue Shade) - Copper Roofs, Trees
• Daniel Smith Green Gold - Trees & Grass