Fantastic Realism with Michael Fuchs
April 24th - June 12th, 2021
Every painting, regardless of genre or subject matter, should be a good one… and some of them even great! The objective of this course is to establish what makes a painting a compelling work of art that enlightens our intellect and ignites our spirit.
We will be incorporating methods of realistic representation to endow images born of our imagination with the persuasiveness of nature studies. There will be much to explore, discover and learn through this seminar and we will use examples throughout the whole of art history, especially that of the Western world from Giotto to contemporary artists such as De Es Schwertberger.
Each participant will be invited to create a painting from beginning to end alongside the teacher and class in a step by step process.
The class will gather LIVE each Saturday for 8 weeks, alternating lectures/ demonstrations with student review/ Q & A every other week. The Group Reviews will have a submission process every other week and 10-15 student works will be chosen to review that touch on valuable teaching points.
Students will be invited to join a private group to interact with one other and ask questions from the team. Playbacks of each session will be posted within 24 hours of the class and available for the following 3 months. Extensions will be available for a fee.
Individual consultations with the instructor will be available per appointment.
We will be incorporating methods of realistic representation to endow images born of our imagination with the persuasiveness of nature studies. There will be much to explore, discover and learn through this seminar and we will use examples throughout the whole of art history, especially that of the Western world from Giotto to contemporary artists such as De Es Schwertberger.
Each participant will be invited to create a painting from beginning to end alongside the teacher and class in a step by step process.
The class will gather LIVE each Saturday for 8 weeks, alternating lectures/ demonstrations with student review/ Q & A every other week. The Group Reviews will have a submission process every other week and 10-15 student works will be chosen to review that touch on valuable teaching points.
Students will be invited to join a private group to interact with one other and ask questions from the team. Playbacks of each session will be posted within 24 hours of the class and available for the following 3 months. Extensions will be available for a fee.
Individual consultations with the instructor will be available per appointment.
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Instructors Biography
Michael Fuchs was born in Paris, France in 1952, and spent his childhood and youth with his mother, Geraldine Krongold in both New York City and Los Angeles. When he was 18 he moved to Vienna to study painting with his father, Ernst Fuchs. This was the beginning of his intensive occupation with portraiture and figure painting. In 1971 he began studying painting under Prof. Anton Lehmden at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna with frequent visits to Prof. Rudolf Hausner and Maximilian Melcher’s classes, enjoying evening figure drawing with Prof. Josef Mikl. During this time Michael also traveled extensively throughout Europe, USA, and Israel. In 1976 he completed his studies with a Master in Fine Arts. In 1980 Michael Fuchs married the artist Cornelia Hagen. He soon began architecture studies at the Technical University in Vienna with admission to the Master School of Architecture under Prof. Gustav Peichl. As a painter, he began to explore his own expression through architecture, portraiture, and sacred art. Michael Fuchs is truly a multi-disciplinary artist, exploring many mediums throughout his career, from murals, to interior design, sculpture, etching and poetry. His work has been exhibited internationally with notable solo exhibits in Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Monaco and Chile. For over 3 decades he has promoted budding artists, preparing them for their artistic career through teaching seminars around the world and his studio in Klosterneuburg, Austria. |
ARTIST STATEMENT
"Art is the very mirror of who we are, our aspirations and hopes, our fears and struggles, our loves and hates. It reflects our inner self, our dignity and weakness, our inadequacies as well as strengths. But art is also a window to a world envisioned by faith alone. The world of the saints and angels, the heaven of God. It is from the Creator that we originate and have our being. And so the world of art we create, is also His gift of inspiration to us. The gift of His tender love." - Michael Fuchs |
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Note from Amanda Sage on being Michael’s student:
It was an opportunity of a lifetime to spend two years painting and working alongside Michael as an apprentice and assistant. His humor, clarity and discipline with which he guided, gave me a strong foundation from which to continue my expansion as an artist. I knew he was going to be a powerful teacher for me when he expressed how sacred it was to observe nature in all it’s beauty and recreate it as a work of art. I highly recommend seizing this opportunity to study with Michael in his first online seminar! Painting to the right 'MYOPIA' was my "diploma painting" after intensive studies with Michael Fuchs. |
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SEMINAR DETAILS
The course is divided into four parts: Composition, Flow of light, The Palette (color) and Technique.
These four aspects of painting are naturally interwoven but must be reviewed separately so as to study them in greater detail. The mastering of these elements will ensure the creation of a work of art that possesses unity of effect, where the sum of its details are subordinated to its overarching pictorial concept.
1. Composition
By composition we generally mean the placement in outline form of the elements of the painting. Think of the arrangements of objects in a still life or of figures in a portrait of a family. This is complicated enough when arranging the elements of a still life or looking for an ideal segment of a landscape. It gets even more complicated when one has to pull all of the elements out of one's head! Thankfully there are methods and rules for composition that can help the artist to achieve the desired effect using armatures, the golden mean etc.
2. Flow of Light
Analogous to the movement of line in composition, there is also a movement with light which helps to define the three-dimensionality of the objects and their spatial relation to one another. The flow of light can create a very theatrical effect on the painting and is the dominant tool of dramaturgy which evokes emotion and leads the eye of the beholder through the painting. The unity of effect is strengthened and the disintegration of the painting is prevented by the proper distribution of light.
3. The Palette (Color)
The use of color in painting is something almost every artist struggles with, yet there are simple guidelines that the artist can use in order to take control of his or her paintings. For instance, we will learn to establish a hierarchy of color saturation, placement of color, as well as the amount of surface that the colors will occupy. We will learn about context of color, as well as address the phenomena using color to express emotions and ideas. Subtlety of skin tones, called incarnate as well as degrees of opacity and transparency in order to depict surface qualities, special relations, and aerial perspective.
4. Technique (Brushwork)
Apart from simply applying paint to a canvas, the brush is the basic tool for defining edges and depicting surface characteristics. The ductus (brush movement) of the individual artist is quite literally his or her signature imprinted onto the totality of the image. It is important to have a very sure control of this tool in order to more realistically depict objects and atmosphere in a painting. No medium can quite achieve excellency of expression like oil paint and the brush.
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Price: $600 SIGN UP HERE Registration is open via our Eventbrite page, click the link above to reserve your spot! 24 hrs of live classes with playbacks available till September 12th, 2021. Payment plans are also available with an initial deposit of $200 before the class begins. We are not offering scholarships for this seminar, but want to encourage and support you in raising funds! Please fill out this FORM if you are interested in a payment plan so we can arrange with you a plan that works for you and us! All participants will be included in a private Facebook Group to share their work in progress and get feedback from the facilitators. There will be 4 LIVE Group review sessions that students will be invited to share their work in process to learn from Michael's refined eye and perspective. |
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Michael will also be available to book private consultations throughout the seminar. |
SCHEDULE
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*All sessions will be recorded and available same day via our private webpage for all students who want to review or are unable to attend in person*
Saturdays (time-zone for Pacific Standard & Central European)
Week 1 - Saturday, April 24 - Lecture (2hr) & Demo (2hr) - Composition Week 2 - Saturday, May 1 - Group Review of Students Art (2hr) Week 3 - Saturday, May 8 - Lecture & Demo - Flow of Light Week 4 - Saturday, May 15 - Group Review of Students Art Week 5 - Saturday, May 22 - Lecture & Demo - The Palette - Color in Art Week 6 - Saturday, May 29 - Group Review of Students Art Week 7 - Saturday, June 5 - Lecture & Demo - Technique Week 8 - Saturday, June 12 - Group Review of Students Art |
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MATERIALS LIST
1. Painting easel, capable of supporting a painting in a vertical position. 2. Canvas with a warm grey Imprimatura (recommended size: 16x20”) 3. Oil paints of good quality in tubes: titanium white, ivory black, gold ochre, cadmium light red and yellow, Naples yellow, sap green, cobalt yellow. (Add any other color that suits your fancy :) 4. Varnished wooden palette and two clasp on receptacles with lids for turpentine and painting medium. 5. Turpentine or Mineral Spirits and one bottle of painting medium consisting of 50% dammar varnish and 50% linseed oil. 6. Mahlstick (painting stick) 7. Brushes: The brushes should all be filberts (Katzenzungen) of different sizes and a few round brushes. |
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TEAM
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Amanda Sage
is an artist driven to reveal art’s critical role in spiritual transformation. A celebrated visionary artist, she is a citizen of the world, exhibiting in galleries, art fairs and festivals, as well as lecturing and teaching worldwide at places such as the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in New York, Paradise One in Australia and the Vienna Academy of Visionary Art in Austria. After studying with Michael Fuchs as an apprentice for 2 years in Austria she then became a painting assistant to Ernst Fuchs for 10 years. She has been painting in the Mischtechnik for over 20 years and has developed her own way of expressing and sharing it through over 10 years of teaching. 
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My aspiration is to paint messages, visions and narratives that communicate with an ‘older & wiser us’, awakening ancient memory; as well as the ‘present us’, that we may grow up and accept the responsibilities towards ourselves, each other and the rest of existence on this planet.
https://www.amandasage.com |
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Alecia Sacred Heart
is an international visionary artist, Administrative Coordinator at the Vienna Academy of Visionary Art, and an Engineer of the Vision Train. Her passions are painting prayers, activism through art, and supporting fellow artists to realize their great importance in the world today. www.instagram.com/alecia_sacredheart 
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Yasemin Duru
is a multicultural multidisciplinary artist, currently based in Vienna, Austria. Acutely interested in all things inspiring and igniting passion, as well as sharing images of a sustainable and collaborative future. Yasemin also works to bring awareness about themes regarding Earth, animals, mental health, lgbtqia2s+ topics, and empowering others to live their truth, including embodying our multidimensional selves. 
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