- 2025
- APR
- 8 & 9
- 9AM-4PM
Painting as a Practice
Bill Lane
Sam Allerton Green
Instead of pursuing the endless endeavor of trying to answer the question of “What do I paint?” — let’s explore, together, key habits and excesses that help us break free from such creative barriers. We’ll learn how to listen to intuition, as well as practical strategies to overcome self-doubt, perfectionism, and mental roadblocks that can hinder your artistic progress.
We’ll discuss many terms you often hear in painting such as design, composition, value, color etc. These are hugely important tools for your artistic endeavors, but they’re all meant to help support a practice.
Using the tools in this workshop you’ll build a strong flow and routine that has the potential to completely transform your approach to painting. This will give you the freedom to paint without limitations, build consistent habits, and embrace your creative journey in a way that feels rewarding to you.
By the end of this workshop, you’ll have a renewed approach to painting, equipped with practical exercises and routines that will keep your creativity flowing long after the workshop ends.
- LOCATION: Portsmouth Arts Guild
- MEMBER COST: $265
- NON-MEMBER COST: $295
Bill Lane
Bill started drawing and painting as a child at the Newport Art Association. Later in life, he started watercolor painting at the Attleboro Arts Museum. However, running his own graphic design studio pulled him in lots of different directions, mostly away from painting as dictated by his paying clients.
During his early teenage years, he painted scenes of Newport, RI on barrel staves discarded during the building of the Newport Bridge. These small barrels washed up on shore and gave a perfectly weathered canvas for iconic scenes of Newport.
He graduated from Southeastern Massachusetts University (now UMass Dartmouth) with a BFA in Visual Design.
Bill has studied watercolor under great artists including Judy Wagner, Paul George, Joseph Zbukvic and Tom Hughes.
Bill is an artist member of the Copley Society of Art in Boston, an exhibiting artist member of the Providence Art Club as well as a Signature Artist Member in the New England Watercolor Society and the Rhode Island Watercolor Society.
He enjoys plein air painting whenever possible but New England winters, which make for frozen watercolors… and fingers… tend to keep him in the studio.
“Everyday scenes from life intrigue me the most; be it a barren skyline, boats at the dock or city life on a busy day. I observe how the light plays into the scene and reflects off the subjects. I work to capture that light and make it my point-of-interest in the painting.”
Learn more about Bill on his website and visit him on Instagram.
Sam Allerton Green
“I grew up in Providence, Rhode Island, and studied painting at the Maryland Institute College of art and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. I have been an Artist in Residence at numerous residencies around the country. I paint often, both inside and outside. Much of my work is done En Plein Air, on site, in a single session. This forces me to focus on capturing what it feels like to be there, rather than simply replicating what I see. I spend so much of my time trying to swindle the natural world into showing me what is most important. Some days I’m convinced that observing this earth in the snow, rain, late at night or early in the morning will reveal something new to me. That if I park my easel in blazing sun just steps away from a shady grove, I will see something else. Something more, and I’ll be ready to record it. Brush in hand, like I am some paparazzi for mother earth.”
For more of Sam’s work, view his website or visit him on Instagram.