Upcoming solo exhibition and 5 days painting workshop in August (early bird ticket on sale now ✨)

I am extremely happy to announce that this August, I'll be hosting my very first solo exhibition, followed by a 5 days painting workshop & retreat! 🎨💛

The exhibition will be divided for 2 themes: My travel/landscape paintings where I am gonna show all my travel landscape sketchbooks and the journey with traditional painting. The other part will be about my fantasy illustration and magical realism.

This workshop is all about painting everywhere – learning to use watercolor & gouache in different environments, whether in the city, in nature, or while traveling - the technique I've been working with for over past 10 years (see this post to read more) If you’ve ever wanted to capture the world around you in painted sketches, this is your chance to learn from me directly ✨

 The important part is that we are gonna use the setup that allows you to paint literally everywhere - with as minimum materials as you can allow yourself to carry (especially while traveling).

We are gonna learn to sketch not only a subject (like a building or a tree) but the whole scenery, including for- mid- and background and capturing specific to that time and place color and light situation. It will be important to analyze what you see before putting any brushstrokes on the paper. We will also learn how to mix accurate colors so they look natural keeping in mind the correct values.

By practicing painting from life, you will not only register the places you’ve visited but you will also improve your sense of color & light which is very useful in any painting or illustration you might work on later (be it digital or traditional). This type of practice is often used by professionals already working in the game or animation industry (including studios such as Disney, Dreamworks or Sony Pictures Animation) but still improving their skills of observation.

Last year I have already done a weekend workshop in Berlin collaborating with Drink&Draw and this is gonna be an extended version

Photo credits: Eileen Marie Tretter (Drink&Draw Berlin)

Why add gouache to watercolor?

Painting using watercolor only brings many limitations and requires a lot of planning ahead and there is no turning back (or it’s very hard to fix) after you lay down the dark strokes. By adding gouache you can work with opaque paint, put layers on top of each other, receiving not only a nice paint texture but also correcting your mistakes (especially being able to brighten things up) as well as get a whole range of values which are easier to control.

📅 Dates:

• August 8th at 18:00– Art Exhibition Opening with short movies screenings and Q&A 🎉 (open to everyone!)

• August 9–10 – Weekend Painting Workshop (option to join just for these two days)

• August 11–13 – Pleinair painting sessions with guided trips to some most remarkable and interesting places, group critiques and optional activities in the evening

What to expect?

✨ Plein-air painting sessions in some of the most remarkable and interesting locations around the city

✨ Learning about composition, color mixing, and painting techniques with watercolor and gouache – perfect for painting anywhere, especially while traveling

✨ Individual and group feedback

✨ Time to relax, explore, and connect with like-minded creatives

✨ Additional option to purchase a material starter kit (coming soon)

✨ A chance to get to know a new country (if you're not from Poland) or city – Szczecin is easily accessible, just 2h from Berlin, with its own airport!

📍 Locations: 

• The weekend workshop will happen in INKU (al. Wojska Polskiego 90) from 11am to 6pm on both days - this part will be focused more on the theory technique and exercises) depending on the weather it will be either in the garden or inside of the building.

• Monday - Wednesday part will be focused more on the outdoor practice - we will be visiting various remarkable places in Szczecin (exact meeting points to be announced before the workshop)

  
  

🎟️ To ensure the intimacy and quality of the feedback, there will be a group of maximum 10 people. Sign up now to reserve your place. For additional questions and more information please write me at igaoliwiak@gmail.com

>> TICKETS <<

Early bird sale until end of March or for the first 5 people!

I hope to see some of you there, cheers <3