How can a black and white photograph become an abstract exploration of color and light? 

Using one of his own landscape photographs as a point of departure, Mark Russell Jones will lead us in a morning of looking, responding, and discovering our own interpretations of the image. Rather than translating the photograph literally, we will notice the underlying shapes, spatial relationships, rhythms, and contrasts that can become the foundation for a painting. We’ll learn about underpainting, mixing colors from a limited palette, and using cloth to apply paint. Become introduced to or reacquainted with oil painting as you investigate your intuition for abstraction.

Ages 18+ | Attendance capped at first 20 guests

Sliding admission $10-20

Mark Russell Jones is an artist whose work moves between abstraction and representation, exploring landscape as a space of memory, atmosphere, and contemplation. Born on California’s Central Coast and raised in the agricultural region of Santa Maria, his connection to the natural world has remained central to his practice. He divides his time between California’s Central Coast and Maine’s Midcoast.

Jones received his BFA in Painting with distinction from California College of the Arts, where he was the recipient of the Vivian Isabel Bolton and Peter Chapman Scholar Awards. Drawing from extensive travel and years spent living abroad, he works from photography and drawing to create atmospheric oil paintings that transform observed landscapes into luminous, meditative spaces.