by Jude Wiesenfeld and Deb Shaw
“Forest Bouquet, Russian Choice,” watercolor by Alexander Viazmensky, © 2016, all rights reserved.
Alexander (Sasha) Viazmensky will be returning to Southern California from St. Petersburg, Russia to teach a three-day, BAGSC-sponsored workshop, Mushroom Portraits in Watercolor.
Wednesday, October 19 – Friday, October 21, 2016 9:30 am – 4:00 pm each day Los Angeles County Arboretum, Oak Room $300 for BAGSC members; $330 for non-members Class limit: 16 students
Workshop Description: Mushroom hunting is a passionate, national pastime in Russia, and Sasha’s paintings capture the spirit of the fungi and the forest. Painted life sized, he calls his paintings “Portraits of Mushrooms.” The class will consist of the following steps:
Composition.
How to properly place your subject: lights, shadows, reflections.
Creating the shape from light to dark.
Creating various textures with dry brush.
Using white gouache.
Final details.
Download the materials list: sashaMaterialsList
To Register: Send a check for your $50 non-refundable deposit fee (or payment in full), made out to BAGSC, to BAGSC Education Chair Jude Wiesenfeld. Please write “Sasha” on the memo line of the check. Payment in full is due by Monday, October 3, 2016.
Bring your lunch, or purchase lunch at the Peacock Café, on the Arboretum grounds.
The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is located at: 301 North Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007.
Alexander Viazmensky in the woods. © 2016.
About the Instructor:
Sasha Viazmensky was born and lives in St. Petersburg, Russia, and specializes in painting fungi. Although he has a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, he has devoted his life to painting, studying, and picking mushrooms. His work is included in the collections of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Shirley Sherwood Collection and the Komarov Botanical Institute in St. Petersburg, among others, and in private collections all over the world. You can read an article Sasha wrote about picking mushrooms in Russia, published in MUSHROOM, The Journal of Wild Mushrooming, here.