FAQ - All About Virtual Workshops

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Here’s what you can expect while attending one of our Virtual Workshops. 

How does it work? Currently, we are using http://Ustream.tv as streaming technology.  Cindy or Lisa will broadcast the creation of a painting, step by step, demonstrating all the techniques and issues that painting entails with closeups and explanations.  Participants work from the same photo resources to create the same painting.  We can’t see what you’re doing, but participants can ask questions via a chat box.  After each day, participants are asked to submit a photo for critique and guidance.

We will take a 10-15 minute break every hour– to allow everyone to catch up, ask questions, or just chat and relax. If you’re stuck and need help – this break time would be a perfect opportunity to snap a photo and send it via email to us for real-time critique and suggestions. 

Why are you doing this? Lisa: Oh, I could go on and on…  Many people have the will to learn, but can’t get to regular workshops because of the cost, childcare, timing, travel, or physical limitations.  So many times when I was teaching myself to paint I thought, “If someone would just show me, I could figure this out.”  But I had 4 kids at home under 10, and no way to enroll at an atelier with a master.  Art is not an exclusive club - if you have the drive to self-educate, we want to help.

What results should I expect from the workshop? The goal is not to complete a finished painting suitable for framing, although you just might find that you did! Rather, the goal is to learn the technique – practice and experiment along with us, so that you become comfortable with the process. We think that knowing the painting you’re working on is just for you is a very liberating experience – you’ll be more willing to try new things and not worry about messing anything up.  Truly this is the way you make strides – leaps – ahead in ability.

How will the participants get the photos? We will send you a .tiff or other high resolution digital file that you can print on your own printer, print at a local print shop, or send to Kinkos.com or a similar service to have printed and fedexed to you.

Why are we working from photos? This is how we all work on the same thing at the same time.

Isn’t painting from life better? It sure is.  But in reality, the majority of paintings are done from photos.  We talk about “what if we were painting from life” at various points, because the ultimate goal is to imitate life.

Do you teach other styles?  Primarily, Cindy and Lisa are realists and will be teaching representational methods.  What you do with that knowledge is all up to you.

Do Cindy Procious and Lisa Gloria each teach the same thing?  We have similar styles, but we each teach our own thing, our own way.  This isn’t coming from a book - we’re real, professional artists sharing our personal methods and techniques. 

What materials do I need? All the materials, paint pigments, and canvas/panel sizes are in the individual workshop description pages.

The drawing is critical to success.  How do you know I got the drawing right if you can’t see what I’m doing?  We’re experimenting with different solutions for this, but the most important thing is for participants to develop the ability to self-critique.  We highly recommend that you check the drawing early and often to ensure it’s correct.  To that end, we strongly suggest you print a transparency of the reference file at full size to place over your drawing and self-serve the drawing corrections.

What if I can’t stay for the whole thing?  What if I get lost?  What if my Internet connection goes down? The entire workshop, divided into logical segments, is availble to watch as a video in the password-protected workshop page.  To our knowledge, this doen’t expire and you can review it whenever you like.  Take that, land-based workshops!

Can I get the workshop as a DVD?  We are working on it. 

How do I know my PC is compatible with your technology?  Go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/lisa-gloria-painting and check out Lisa’s regular show (usually Wednesday mornings), or any live show, and ensure you can see video, hear sound, and participate in the chat room.  If any of those things is not accessible to you, this probably won’t work for you.

What kind of experience do I need? These workshops are aimed at beginning/intermediate painters who know something about the materials, have given it a go, and understand some basic concepts.  We’re aiming for good representations, so painters should understand basic ideas like values, modeling, form, the color wheel and so on.  Because this is a live step by step oil painting demonstration, we’re very conscientious about creating a logical process and repeatable progression so that you can take the process and use it yourself.  We hope that what you want to learn is how to paint a still life or person realistically, because that’s what we’re teaching.

Can I use something besides oils?  Probably not.  It wouldn’t make sense.

How do I sign up? Each workshop has its own page from which you can sign up, until registration is closed. 

How do I find out about new ones?  Subscribe to the RSS feed for the blog - we post new alerts there too.

Will you offer discount pricing for multiple workshop enrollment? Yes. For a package of 5 workshops, we will offer 10% off the total.

Can I buy access to the archived workshops? Yes. The fee for viewing the archived workshops is 50% of the original fee.

Can I get a refund if I don’t like it?  Landbased workshops don’t do that, but if you really can’t log in or derive any benefit from the workshop due to technical issues, we will work something out.