Abstraction: Landscape as Source: Workshop with Jordan Wolfson

1 - 9 August 2025 

Set in the magical landscape of Ballycastle, this workshop will explore both plein air painting and the
process of abstraction. In the mornings we will work in the traditional plein air approach -painting
directly outdoors and developing our tonal relationships in response to the landscape, in search of a
convincing sense of space and light. As the mornings progress we will also explore a variety of ways of
handling and applying paint, different kinds of mark-making, and see how these different kinds of marks
relate to space, light, and form in different ways.
In the afternoons we will work indoors on one canvas for the duration of the workshop. We will be
using our morning paintings as source material for an ongoing and improvisational discovery of
abstract painting. As the painting develops, we’ll experiment with making a mess! Tolerating chaos! And
exploring how to find order amidst the chaos.
What we’ll cover in the afternoon Process of Abstraction:
 How to PLAY with Paint!
 What can this STUFF Do? What's physically possible?
 Ways of MAKING MARKS and HANDLING PAINT.
 How to EXPERIMENT with FORMAL ELEMENTS (e.g. Line, Color, Shape, Edge, Value, Texture,
etc.)
 How to RISK and make a MESS!
 How to TOLERATE CHAOS.
 How to receive the chaos and discover HIDDEN ORDER.
 What it means to COLLABORATE with the Painting.
 How to DISCOVER and STRENGTHEN COMPOSITION.
 Discovering and Clarifying Your Own PERSONAL CREATIVE TEMPERAMENT and Way of
Painting.
Risk, spontaneity, and play will be encouraged!!!