Wyeth Waters and Other Shores Explored: Drawing and Painting Maine Waters with Rachael and John David O’Shaughnessy

Four Mondays, February 7, 14, 28, and March 7 (no class on February 21 as it is a holiday) from 6 to 8 pm (ET)
Online via Zoom.

This class is an immersive look at water through the eyes of some of the most beloved works in the Farnsworth collection. Join artists, and husband and wife team, John and Rachael O’Shaughnessy, to learn how to create dynamic, convincing drawings and paintings of Maine’s waters, using the guidance of both memory and observation. Suitable for beginners and beyond, students learn using works by N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, Rockwell Kent, George Bellows, and others as jumping-off places for their own investigations. Each 2-hour class will include live demonstrations by the artists, giving reference to works of art in the Museum’s collection, while gleaning strengths within the students’ fresh works. 

John David O’Shaughnessy has developed his eye over the years through his work in the field of design. His paintings are known for carrying an intensity of movement that are held in bold gesture, saturated, improvisational color, and an unrelenting pursuit of fugitive light. John David can often be found painting seascapes directly from life in all shifts of weather along the coast of Maine, or on the edges of hidden coves along the New England coast. He was inspired by his study in Stonington Maine for two summers in recent years with the late Jon Imber, breaking into a new phase of language in his paintings. John teaches drawing, painting, and printmaking. He shows his paintings in galleries throughout Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. He is a member of the Ogunquit Art Association in Maine. John David O’Shaughnessy studied painting at Massachusetts College of Art where he received his Bachelor degree in Fine art in Painting. His website is: 10000machines.com

Rachael O’Shaughnessy is perhaps best known for witnessing thousands of consecutive sunrises over the ocean, and translating them into atmospheric drawings and paintings. A contemporary romantic and luminist painter, and art instructor, O’Shaughnessy has a passion for ocean storms as they meet the timeless and sublime. Awarded Hewnoaks Artist Colony Residencies, Vermont Studio Center Residencies, Pace Residencies, and others, O’Shaughnessy incorporates her work in museums into her own visceral experience of nature. Bob Keyes of The Portland Press Herald writes: “She trusts that her single-minded dedication shows itself in deeper paintings that express not what she sees each morning but how she feels. She wants to transfer the energy of the sun and the movement of the water to the surface of her paintings.” In recent years, sublime works by J.M. W. Turner, Albert Pinkhan Ryder, and Frederic Church cue in her passion for color and light as they meet the New England coastline. O’Shaughnessy received a BFA with honors in painting from Maine College of Art, residencies include Vermont Studio Center working with Lois Dodd, and Wolf Kahn, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and independent studies in Europe.  An instructor for the Currier Museum of Art, and Historic New England Museums, among others, O’Shaughnessy’s work is shown in numerous public and private collections. Her website: https://rachaeleastman.com/home.html

Download the materials list here.

Cost: $288; $240 members