Event

Color Harmony in Tonal Painting

With Christine Lafuente

October 3–5, 2025
10am–4pm
Adult Workshops
Adult Fall 2025

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Color Harmony in Tonal Painting
W/Christine Lafuente
A three (3) day workshop
October 3-5
10:00am – 4:00pm
Tonal painting is the creation of form and dimension by modulating value of color from light mass to shadow mass. Color harmony is created through an understanding of temperature shift from light to dark.
Working from the still life, this oil painting workshop relates the concepts of tone, temperature, and key. The palette will be “keyed” according to position of the painter to the light source.
Students will be instructed how to mix oil color, organize their palette mixtures, and maintain color harmony, while painting wet-into-wet. Please make sure to bring a large palette and a high-quality mixing knife. Mornings will include lecture and demonstration, with afternoons devoted to painting and individual instruction.
All levels are welcome, some experience drawing and painting from observation is recommended.
Christine Lafuente Bio:
Christine Lafuente’s work draws on the effect of atmosphere on color, as it pertains to visibility and invisibility. Shadows, dust, moisture, and extreme sunlight provide an aesthetic phenomenon that both creates and destroys form. Over a period of contemplative looking, Lafuente interprets what she experiences in her plein-air paintings and transfers these concepts into her still life work. Lafuente is drawn to subjects that are visually mysterious. Through her use of oil and watercolor painting, she is delighted when she can take in a visual experience and allow the painting process to teach her what she is seeing.
A native of Poughkeepsie NY, Christine received an B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College in 1991. She then moved to downtown Philadelphia to earn a Certificate in Painting and Printmaking from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. There she was awarded a Louis S. Ware Memorial Scholarship for European Travel. While Artist-in-Residence at the Fleisher Art Memorial from 1997 to 2002, she began teaching. In 2003 she moved to Brooklyn NY, where she earned a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts at Brooklyn College. In November 2023, Christine did an Artist Residency at Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy. With the exception of 2020 when she sheltered-in-place in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, Christine lives and works in Brooklyn throughout the year and spends summers painting in Maine.
Materials List:
Color Harmony for Tonal Painting with Christine Lafuente
Suggested Materials List
Notebook or small sketchbook to take notes
Viewfinder, any kind
LARGE Palette: 12×16 or 16×20 Disposable white paper palette pad with a Board to put underneath, and clips to attach the pad to the board
Palette Knives: 1 or 2, should be metal, tapered/pointy, with a “dog leg handle” like a spatula, good for mixing
Double Palette Cups, 2-inch diameter, can clip on palette
Brush-cleaning container preferably with interior porous cup or coil so that sludge can settle
Large glass Jar with Lid for used solvent
Rags: LOTS! Should be absorbent cotton and/or a Roll of Viva paper Towels or Shop Towels
Plastic bags for used rags
Suggested Oil Colors, in order of importance.
USE ARTIST GRADE!
At the very least, have one of each primary (a red, a yellow, a blue, and a white)
Burnt Sienna
Ultramarine Blue
White: best is a Titanium/Zinc Blend- if not, Titanium White or Lead/Flake White
Yellow Ochre
Cadmium Red Medium or Light* *AVOID “HUE”s, they are fakes!
Cadmium Yellow Pale or Light*
Cobalt Blue*
Cerulean Blue*
Alizarin Crimson
Ivory Black
Raw Umber
Lemon Yellow
Cadmium Yellow Medium*
Raw Sienna
Rose (either Rose Madder or Permanent Rose)
Greens: Sap Green, Terre Verte, Viridian
Brushes
A decent range (at least 6) of mid-size to large (#4-#12) Hog Bristle brushes in a variety of shapes. I like flats and filberts. Use good quality, good condition brushes. I like Robert Simmons brand. Synthetics can be good, but make sure they are stiff bristle made for oil.
Basic Mediums (I will discuss others, but we won’t need them)
Odorless Mineral Spirits such as “Turpenoid” or “Gamsol”
Cold-Pressed or Refined Linseed Oil (Artist Grade only)
Surfaces
At least 2-3 small or mid-size Surfaces: ex. 9×12, 12×12, 11×14, 12×16
WHITE GROUND. Cotton or Linen Canvas.
Must be adequately primed with either acrylic or oil ground.