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RiverhouseCreate

Classes  /  Painting & Drawing

Painting & Drawing

Thursday afternoons in a room of easels and student work, painting in watercolor, oils, pastel or pencil, and then an hour drawing a live model.

See the class schedule

Watercolor of the painting studio at Riverhouse Create

What happens in the painting studio

Drawing & Painting Open Studio runs on Thursday afternoons. The long table is laid out before you arrive, the easels are standing, and student work hangs on every wall of the room. Bring the piece you're partway through, or start one here in watercolor, oils, pastel or pencil. If you haven't drawn since school, say so and Diana Rell Dean will put paper and a pencil in front of you and give you something to look at. She grew up in Tensaw a few miles up the road, spent forty years in modern dance and then turned to painting. She moves from easel to easel instead of talking from the front, and she has a canvas of her own going on the far side of the room.

Life Drawing follows straight on, one hour in the same room at the same easels. A dressed model sits for you and holds the pose while you work. Drawing a person who is there in the room with you is a different job from drawing a photograph, and it is usually a drive into a city and an evening you have to plan around. Here it's an hour on a Thursday afternoon, forty minutes from Mobile, and it costs one credit like any other class. Diana teaches the hour and draws along with everyone else, so come to the open studio, stay in your seat when the model comes in, and carry on at the same easel.

Next times you can come

Pick a date to see the time, who is teaching, and how to book it.

8OctDrawing & Painting Open StudioThursday · 1:00 PM–4:00 PM · 3 hours · Diana Rell DeanPlaces openSee this class →8OctLife DrawingThursday · 3:00 PM–4:00 PM · 1 hour · Diana Rell DeanPlaces openSee this class →15OctDrawing & Painting Open StudioThursday · 1:00 PM–4:00 PM · 3 hours · Diana Rell DeanPlaces openSee this class →15OctLife DrawingThursday · 3:00 PM–4:00 PM · 1 hour · Diana Rell DeanPlaces openSee this class →

Every one of these costs one class credit. Single Class Credit — $50. Member Four-Class Pack — $130. See the whole schedule.

From the painting studio

What people paint here

Work made by the people who come to this table. Several of them are the view from the porch.

A student painting of the garden gate and the lamp post, with the trees behind.
A student painting of the pines with the blue chairs out on the grass.
A student painting looking out through the porch rail into the woods.
A pastel by Diana Rell Dean of the white house standing among the pines.
A student painting of the blue building among the trees at the water's edge.
A painting of tall pines standing close together in the woods.
A student pastel of two striped chairs on the porch at sundown.
Early Spring, a watercolor of the boardwalk running out through the trees.
A painting of birches and pines worked thickly in bright greens.
A pastel of the pond with the red boathouse on the far bank.
Landmark, a pastel by Diana Rell Dean of the raised cottage under its red roof.

Who teaches painting and drawing

Working artists, all of them teaching in the room rather than from the front. The schedule names the teacher for every date.

  • Diana Rell DeanDiana Rell Dean
  • Sherri ScottSherri Scott
  • Julie DayJulie Day
  • Lynn DavisLynn Davis
  • Megan ShiffletMegan Shifflet
  • Betty PoindexterBetty Poindexter