Before I moved to the villages, I could draw. I drew a lot of stuff and frequently attemped portraits of our children, but I never really knew how to add color and depth to them. When I moved here I took my very first lesson in art..ever, a beginning Color Pencil class from Nan Klein at the Lifelong Learning College. I don't know what I expected but I got....results.
Before long this small and sweet lady was taking all of us to new levels, walking around the room and saying, "lightly, lightly, it is a layering process," gently saying "good work" or "here get up and let me show you." In six weeks we all left with so much information and skill and a new appreciation for what is a fairly new art medium, Colored Pencil Painting.
Probably we have here in The Villages one of the largest Colored Pencil communities to be found. Surely we have the most enthusiastic and the most fun and one would look long and hard to find a group more talented. Two of the early experts in color pencil live here in The Villages; Nan Klein and Donna Caputo. They have trained many new artists who are rapidly becoming masters of the art themselves.
The Colored Pencil Guild met Wednesday at La Hacienda for their first year anniversary with a lot of rolicking fun and awarding of prizes, both sincere and silly. Over 100 artists gathered to enjoy a potluck breakfast and to give a standing ovation to the wonderful teacher who taught most of them, Nan Klein.
In January, nationally aclaimed color pencil artist and author of the book COLOR PENCIL PORTRAITS, Ann Kuhlberg,will have a workshop at the Lifelong Learning College.
The Colored Pencil Guild will present an exhibit of their work next month at Lake Miona Rec Center.
Here is a link to an article recently about Nan Klein. She is one of the finest teachers on any subject I have ever run across and I have high standards on teaching!!
Color Her World - Lake & Sumter Style Magazine