Sahli - Russian School of Painting

Teaching Style:    
“My goal is to teach one to ‘see,’ not to paint by formula,” says Sahli.  And Don means just that! 

Working closely with each student, he bases the form of his instruction on the student’s unique understanding of the world, art and painting. “We learn in three ways: by doing, by seeing it done and by seeing what has been done – I use all of these ways to learn in my teaching.”
Here’s how that happens: During the workshop there will be 2-3 demos.  Works by masters are viewed and discussed – there may be time for a slide presentation on Russian painters.  
And most importantly, you will paint.                             
 “My goal as teacher is to guide one to “see”, to understand the relationship of color, value and temperature.  Once one can see and understand what to see - the journey becomes a personal one.  Find out who you are as a painter?  Not what sells...Not the flavor of the month club…Not what someone else is doing…I want you to go further, do more than what is already being done...also, I want to share with you the 150-year legacy of the Russian School of Painting or Art of Painting as my teacher defined it.”

Painting on location, taking the studio outside brings its own set of challenges. Plein air painting is a spontaneous response to nature.  In the outdoors, things change quickly; the natural world is in constant motion.  As the foundations of plein air painting are presented step-by-step, you will learn how to simplify complex landscapes into “simple pieces” dealing with color, value and temperature. 
Working outdoors will train you to work with haste and to be more spontaneous in your painting. Don Sahli provides hands-on guidance and instruction in how to meet the challenges of painting plein air. His personalized teaching method, along with limited class size, will ensure everyone’s success. 

“Meeting Sergei Bongart changed my life.  The first time I saw him paint; I knew I had much to learn. I have spent the last 28 years striving to create paintings and teach in a way that honors this academic training in Art of Painting.  I hope you join me for this bit of the journey… “


Biography:
Don Sahli strives to continually expand his horizons and push the limits, presenting and creating his work in ways that are unexpected, fresh and stimulating. Instead of being limited by the technical bounds of painting and the expected response to subject matter, he takes these boundaries and uses them as the jumping off point - the start of something, not the end. And while Sahli's work can be seen as traditional with old world qualities that come from his background in the Russian School of Painting, it can also be seen as modern and contemporary - on the cutting edge in terms of color, design and passion.

As a painter, Don Sahli has an extraordinary legacy in Russian Impressionism. Sahli experienced the first-hand opportunity of studying with the great Russian master, Sergei Bongart, the famous Russian colorist.  At Bongart’s invitation, Sahli followed him to California and became his last apprentice.  Although many, many artists studied with Sergei Bongart, only a very few were invited to work and interact with Bongart in an “old world” type of apprenticeship. 

To meet his goal of carrying on the legacy of his teacher, Sahli opened Sahli School of Art in Evergreen, Colorado in 1995. "I opened the art school to give the 'hungry' student a safe place to learn and work. My teacher taught, his teacher taught, and I wanted to keep this tradition alive and give something back. It's also a critical aspect of the creative process...it helps one to articulate what one is thinking and doing. I myself have learned from the process, and I am a much better painter since I began teaching."