Join today- Included with McEvoy Atelier Membership

NEW Online Painting Course: Painting from Nature

An introduction to color!  Start by painting simple shapes, then the downy feathers of a Cardinal and then the abstract calligraphy of a Venus Fly Trap. This course utilizes affordable gouache paint sets that you can purchase at Hobby Lobby. Each project consists of 5-6 lessons including technical lessons on how to handle paint and mix colors.  Step into the wonder and rhythmic joy of painting from nature.

This course removes all the obstacles so that you can delight and thrive in painting.

Curious About Painting?

Everyone loves color and is immediately drawn to painting. We are so excited to offer this virtual painting course for a few reasons.  

EnchanTing Subject Matter
The subjects of the Cardinal and Venus Fly trap are simply a delight to paint. 
Simple Art Materials
The supply list is affordable and easy to find. This is a big win.
Easy Set UP
You can do this painting course at your kitchen table.
What you are going to learn

15 lessons each 45 mins long for ages 9+

Delight in Painting from Nature.  After this course you will feel empowered to draw and paint birds, plants and so much more!  And all with an affordable art setup you can use anywhere.
Throughout this course you will discover how to Paint from Nature:

  • Draw and Paint an Egg and Cube using a limited 3 color Pallete 
  • Learn how to control water flow
  • Draw a Cardinal and Venus Fly Trap
  • Use Fixative to seal drawings (optional)
  • Use Acrylic Ink to tint backgrounds of your artwork
  • Paint the Cardinal and Venus Fly Trap in 5-6 detailed lessons going through every phase of the process
  • Varnish the finished Paintings (Optional)

Painting Is Drawing, …. but with Paint 

This was a lightbulb moment for me.  At first, I thought all mediums were created equal: graphite, oil paint, gouache, watercolor, colored pencils, clay, pastel… almost like different flavors of ice cream.  Then it was brought to my attention by a good friend that you have to learn to draw with graphite, the most simple medium, and learn to draw well before trying out painting or any other medium.  This might seem like a kill joy but if you don’t take the time to learn how to draw well in graphite then you will be trying to learn how to draw with paint which is much harder to control while also learning how to incorporate color.  

Some of us want to skip over learning how to draw and jump straight into painting.  Don’t.  

(There is a reason why all the leading ateliers require years of exclusively drawing before letting students paint.)

 First, learn to draw with the easiest tool AND learn to see light, which is easiest in black and white. We recommend at least drawing the Sphere and Cube from our Foundations Course before diving into painting.  (I know drawing a cube is not nearly as exciting as painting a bird. But I promise you’ll get there faster than you think.)

Then, dive into painting.  

Be patient, it can be frustrating.. but it is also rewarding.

So I was a bit nervous to start painting after well known landscape artist Marc Dalessio said “If you enjoy painting, then you’re doing it wrong.” This quote always makes me chuckle a bit, because it's funny and also a bit true. Painting is much harder than it looks.  

But after finishing my first painting of a cardinal with this course, I have to say it came out pretty good and I am happy with it. You have to take risks more with paint then with pencil, which kind of goes against my nature of being somewhat cautious. There were definitely times where I put down paint followed by moments of sheer terror … ‘I just ruined the whole thing’, but with time you learn how to mitigate your mistakes and Kevin does a great job of modeling this in the course.

Somehow after a few lessons your Cardinal emerges, the step by step nature of the course really walks you through it in a pleasant way and you find yourself gliding your paint brush along in a happy sort of trance. Along the way, from simple observation, you’ve also learned much more about a cardinal then originally intended. By the end, you have a beautiful painting and a new confidence that 'Yes, I can actually do this, I can actually learn to paint'... and a new door is opened.

Homeschool Art Curriculum: Classical Painting Course

This art curriculum is designed to allow students to thrive in art and learn how to draw and paint all different subjects and techniques from their own home.  Remove the burden of driving to a class and also the financial cost of in-person classes.  Homeschooling mom's and dad’s have so much on their plates, so much so, that they don’t always have remaining bandwidth for art - that is where our step by step multi-year art curriculum comes in.  And even better, the weekly livestreams provide weekly accountability and incentive for students to stay on track without needing reminders from their parents. This online painting course is suggested after the Foundations of Drawing course as far as sequencing and should take around 1/2 a year if you sit down once a week for an hour.  Painting from nature is a delightful way to enjoy painting with your children.  It is easy to follow and you can also pause when necessary.  One membership for the entire family makes it accessible as well.  It is so fun to sit down and do the lessons together as a family across all ages.

What is the min age for this course?

We suggest ages 9+.  Please realize that is a suggestion, it really depends on your child's ability to sit and focus as well as their own interest in art.  We have had nine year olds paint complex still life.  We have also had nine year olds that still struggle to sit still.  So please assess your child.  Sit with them in a one of the free drawing lessons and see if this type of teaching holds their attention. This is a real painting course, not a craft lesson for kids.   Teens thrive with our art curriculum and truly produce exceptional work.  You will often get different results from different age groups, but all learn tremendously from our offerings.
Painting from Nature draws us back to wonder, draws us back to our Creator.  We are not machines, we are beings that need to connect to our Creator - drawing and painting nature allows us to effortlessly and joyously do that. 

Kevin McEvoy

Fine Art Portrait Painter and Teacher
About
Kevin’s paintings draw on the classical methods he acquired in Florence, and are applied in a contemporary context to the world around him. Interested in the sublime that is to be found in the mundane, his paintings speak to us in common terms, the poetry of everyday life.