Every artist needs a guide. 

There is no better way to accelerate your growth as an artist than learning from those who've gone before you. As your trusted guide, I'm here to provide you with a wealth of insight and ideas that will nourish your creative growth. This is what it means to Apprentice.

Consider the Painterly Landscape and Portrait Courses. They were designed intentionally to guide you through the stages of the Painterly Roadmap, equipping you with the vocabulary, techniques, and understanding you need to create looser, more expressive paintings in pastel.

As you continue your journey inside of Cultivate, you may feel anxious to make rapid progress. I'm here to reassure you: don't worry about making big strides right now. Instead, focus on learning foundational skills and techniques – thumbnail sketching, drawing foundations, understanding light and form, value, color, composition, mark-making, edges, and painterly application. There’s so much to learn!

Cultivate rotates quarterly through various topics related to landscape, portrait and figure, still life, and floral, inviting you to discover areas where you have less experience. Don’t worry, embrace being an Apprentice!

Allow me to guide you through the topics as you focus on learning and imitating working methods with the goal of gaining proficiency in your craft. This isn't the time to pressure yourself about discovering your creative voice. Instead, build the foundational skills, knowledge, and understanding you’ll need to progress to the next level.

MILESTONES

When these milestones are accomplished Apprentices are ready to move on to the next stage:

• Vocabulary Comprehension: You understand the vocabulary of value, light and shadow, perspective, basic color theory, composition, and mark-making.
• Drawing Proficiency - Your drawing skills include accurate proportions and rendering form with light and shadow in monochrome.
• Lesson Execution - You can proficiently follow Lesson Demonstrations, using the provided reference photos to execute concepts and techniques.
• Specialized Proficiency - You've gained proficiency in one of the core topics: landscape, still life, floral, portrait and figure.

ACTIONS

Foundational Skills

• Watch the Drawing Foundations Introduction from Season 3 for drawing basics.
• Watch the Cast Drawing lessons from Season 8 for form and structure.
• Watch the Mark-Making Introduction for mark-making language and practice.
• Watch Understanding Edges, Lesson 1 from Season 2 for a vocabulary of edges.
• Watch Structures in the Landscape Introduction from Season 2 for linear and atmospheric perspective.

Light & Form Studies

• Watch the Still Life Introduction Revealing Light & Form from Season 1 and Lessons 1-3 to learn how to work from life in the studio to develop light and form.
•  Watch Painting Drapery Introduction from Season 6 for drapery techniques.
• Watch the Growth Strategy about Studio Lighting for effective lighting strategies for your studio.
• Watch the Plein Air Landscape Introduction from Season 3 for working on location.

Practice & Application

• Execute concepts and techniques from each lesson using provided reference photos.
• Follow along with demonstrations to build technical proficiency.
• Apply learned techniques to your chosen specialized area.

Growth & Support

• Watch the Creative Confidence Growth Strategy for mindset development.

• Get feedback in the Private Cultivate Community on your progress based on Growth Exercises.
• Visit the Resources Section and use The Book List for additional study.  

Painterly Course Review

• Review the Painterly Landscape Course, Milestone 2 Lessons 4 and 5 to practice mark-making techniques.
• Review the Painterly Portrait Course, Milestone 2 Lesson 1 on the Visual Techniques and Approaches to drawing, and Lesson 2 for Light & Shadow. 
• Review the Painterly Landscape Course, Milestone 4 to strengthen your understanding of basic color theory and color concept development.
• Review the Painterly Portrait Course, Milestone 4 Lesson 1 on Understanding Color & Light for a color theory refresher.
• Review the Painterly Landscape Course, Milestone 5 Lesson 2 to learn three basic underpainting techniques.