
Don Foster's easy-to-understand art course
teaches and illustrates the necessary skills to achieve artistic
success, regardless of subject, medium, training, or level of experience.
We also offer a Artists’ Workshop CD-ROM Companion Kit of
art
materials you could use (not required) as you complete this course. |
 $19.95
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This unique instructional CD-ROM is user friendly.
You do not have to be connected to the Internet and there is
nothing to install. It does not require hard disk space. It
automatically starts when placed in your CD drive and is viewed in
your web browser. All you have to do is point and click. It is
compatible with either Windows or Macintosh
computers. |
The good news is that you CAN break the
copy-habit! The popular Don Foster Artists’ Workshop CD-ROM
is the key to artistic control. The seven explicit and
detailed lessons are applicable to all subjects and all
mediums. The instructional emphasis is upon recognizing
creative possibilities and producing original
work. | |
Introduction

Talent – What is it? Do you have any? Find
out for sure from the introductory pages, and then the lessons
will show you what to do about it.
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Can’t figure out what’s wrong with your paintings?
One of the first of many things you’ll see in the Introduction
is an easy-to-understand guide called “The Circle of Confusion.” It
will enable you to zoom-in on specific problem areas and delete
them once
and for all, as you move toward more rewarding and easier times at
your easel. |
Lesson One
Can’t draw a straight line? Learn why that’s
something to be thankful for! Can’t decide what to paint? This
lesson will help direct your search. Never sure where to begin?
Here’s a wonderful opportunity to develop a proven working
procedure that will eliminate troublesome, and unavoidably
disastrous, guesswork. |

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Lesson Two
Can’t decide what to include or leave out? Don’t
know where to put what on your picture surface and why? Can’t seem
to create a main area of interest? Are “bit” players stealing the
show? This lesson gets down to the basics of composition and
design and clarifies how to add astounding emphasis to your work.
The Don Foster oil painting shown below is called “Ledges.” It is
just one of many oil paintings featured and analyzed on this CD to
illustrate the valuable information you’ll enjoy in lesson two and
all others.

This painting is analyzed from blank canvas to
completion in Lesson
Five. |
Lesson Three
Having problems depicting light and
shade?
This lesson may be the most valuable in our series.
It will teach you how to accurately describe direct sunlight, form
shadows, reflected light, and cast shadows, regardless of the
subjects you paint.
Viewers may not know why your work is so much better
than others they see, but you will. |

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There are four obvious areas (or planes) of light
outdoors at all times and under all conditions.
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The sky
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Flat surfaces
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Angular surfaces
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Uprights (Verticals)
Deviations from these truths of nature may be
recognized as “not looking right.” Do so if you must, but with
extreme care. |

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Lesson Four
Frustrated by muddy, lifeless color?
Learn what makes colors muddy, dull, and monotonous.
Here’s a simple way to select and mix color with astonishing
brilliance and clarity.
Lesson Four also describes how to create color
charts for future reference, enabling you to know exactly which
pigments you need to produce a color seen on your chart. |

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Lesson Five
Do you sometimes wonder how another artist might
have done it?
This helpful lesson clarifies step-by-step painting
procedures and color recipes. |

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Lessons Six and Seven
More in-depth finished painting studies and analysis.
These lessons provide information you will find useful as you paint from
nature or photographs or when you compose scenes from your memory or
imagination.
And, an exciting opportunity awaits you. You’ll be
able to review and test yourself as you are learning, through an
analysis of over 100 fabulous nature photos taken by your instructor as
inspiration and reference for his own paintings.
The CD enlarges and examines each of the 100 spectacular,
memorable, once-in-a-lifetime views with you, revealing what Don Foster
would choose to depict “just like it is,” what he’d change, and most
importantly WHY. You will be painting from nature, in the comfort of
your own home,
as
you enjoy step-by-step guidance.
Turning imperfect photos into perfect paintings is
the topic of this lesson. Here are samples from the Artists’ Workshop
CD.
 Zion National Park, Utah
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The brilliance of the sun reflecting from the upper
rock surfaces caused my camera and film to underexpose the shaded
sides. That’s not the way it appeared to the eye, so this photo is
actually an imperfect distortion of reality. |
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"For my painting I chose to illuminate the shade
surfaces with a warm glow of light reflecting from the ground.
I
also rearranged the foreground to create a path toward the focal
point area, which is what I’ve called “Sandwich Rocks.” The
tree and its shadow became a secondary
interest." - Don Foster |
The La Jolla, California, coves offer a spectacular
top view of wave action. Again, the limitations of photography
show the rocks much darker than they would have actually been
seen.
Photography can provide wonderful reference
material, but we should always recognize its shortcomings and
never limit ourselves to merely duplicating a photo and its
distortions.
Painting is a show and tell process. We show the
subject but, more importantly, we tell the viewer the way we saw
it, imagined it, or wanted it to be. We call what we do Fine Art
because it is, literally, a refining process.
We narrow our visual reporting to what we,
personally, found most important, interesting, dramatic, or
beautiful. |
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"I chose to depict brighter sunlight and color in
the foreground, adding a more concentrated focal point emphasis.
I
also brought the mid and distant peninsulas to sharper focus than
my camera was able to capture. The shadows cast across the lower
right of the rocks were seen in reality, but had vanished when
I took the photo above. To me, cast shadows are essential truths
of
nature. If we have light, we see it in varying degrees and
differing types. Actually, they are what we’re depicting and when
we do that well, the subject matter magically appears." - Don
Foster |
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A special bonus is a screen saver, showing over 30
original oils by your instructor Don Foster.
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