Award winning artist, Jennifer McChristian, was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be an artist. Upon completing high school, McChristian began her art education at Dawson’s College in Montreal, Canada. In 1986, she and her family took permanent residency in California, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Art Degree with Honors from Otis Art Institute in 1990.

McChristian was employed as a full-time animation artist and worked on projects for various animation studios including Disney and Nickelodeon. She has continued her studies under the tutelage of renowned artists Robert Blue, Karl Dempwolf, and Steve Huston. Her inspirations consist of notable artists such as John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Nicolai Fechin and Cecilia Beaux. McChristian primarily paints in oils and occasionally watercolors and gouache. She has an affinity for painting ‘en plein air’ and also enjoys creating studio works using her outdoor sketches as inspiration. “Painting is somewhat of a spiritual experience for me. Although challenging at times, the end result evokes within me a sense of elation, nostalgia and harmony”.

Since 2000, McChristian has devoted herself to painting full-time and actively participates in art events and community building programs. She conducts an ongoing, uninstructed figure drawing workshop three times a week out of her spacious studio (that she refers to as her ‘sanctuary’) located in the heart of Los Feliz Village, CA. In addition, McChristian teaches plein air painting workshops in various locations throughout the United States and abroad. McChristian also finds the time to pursue other artistic interests such as classical ballet. She believes learning is a never-ending process and continues to develop and refine her artistic talent through workshops, research, travel and frequent excursions to museums and galleries.

McChristian recently received  ‘Donor’s Award of Excellence’ from the Oil Painters of America 21st National Juried Exhibition. She was also featured in the July 2012 American Artist magazine,  Southwest Art’s October 2009 publication and American Art Collector’s February 2010 issue. She is a Signature Member of Oil Painters of America (OPA).

Ms. McChristian is currently represented by Abend Gallery in Denver, Colorado, Peter Barker Fine Art in Rutland, England and RS Hanna Gallery in Fredericksburg, Texas.

She currently resides in Glendale, CA with her husband Ben Fried, and a magically inclined calico cat named Bamboo.

MATERIALS LIST FOR PLEIN AIR WORKSHOP

Brushes:

Hog bristol brushes are ideal for oil painting. Winsor Newton’s ‘Winton’ economy brushes and ‘Princeton’ brushes have great prices. Robert Simmons ‘Signet Brushes’ are good quality brushes with reasonable prices. Here are the recommended sizes:

• #4 flat or bright
• #6 flat or bright
• #8 flat or bright
• #10 flat or bright
• #3 filbert
• #6 filbert
• several rounds (from small to medium size)
• Liner (also called ‘Rigger’) for fine lines and small details (optional)Painting Materials and Accessories:

• French easel or Pochade Box:
  Many artists use a French-Box easel. Julian easels are probably the best made. Another option is a Pochade Box Easel (http://guerrillapainter.com/). It’s quite sturdy and has compartments to carry paint tubes as well as small painting accessories. They set up on a camera tripod and are nicely portable.
  Artwork Essentials (http://www.artworkessentials.com/index.htm) also carries wonderful pochade boxes at reasonable prices.
  Coulter Plein Air System is light, portable, affordable and set up is quick and simple. I highly recommended it!! (http://artboxandpanel.com/about)
  NOTE: please be aware certain brands of easel take up to two weeks for deliver so order with enough time to receive before workshop begins!
• Paint palette: either wood with a nice patina or a glass palette works well
• Palette knife for painting, mixing paint and cleaning palette
• Paint scraper to clean palette – available in most hardware stores
• View finder: ’Artwork Essentials’ carries these NOTE: I will provide view finders in classif you do not have one available.
• Small sketchbook, 2B pencils, eraser for sketching
• 3 gray markers: For value comps!One light, medium and dark cool gray marker for value comp thumbnails.
  I use ‘BlickStudio’ markers: COOL (NOT warm) gray at 20%, 50% and 80%
  NOTE: make sure to get markers with broad, chiseled tip (most come with both broad and fine tips)
  http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-studio-markers/
• Turpentine jar/brush washer: leak proof container for cleaning brushes
• ‘Gamsol’ odorless mineral spirits NOTE: if traveling by air instructor will provide solvents
• 1/2 inch masking tape to separate 9×12 panels into quarters

• Paper towels/wet wipes
• Small/Medium sized trash bags for dirty paper towels and trash
• Umbrella to provide shade for you and your palette. You can find a variety of paintingumbrellas at ‘Artwork Essentials’: http://www.artworkessentials.com/products/UMK_40/UMK40.htm
• Latex or Nitrile glove: handy if you are allergic or sensitive to solvents (optional)
• Wet panel carrier to store/carry wet paintings (optional)NOTE: You might need boxes to store your wet paintings in. You can get nice wood panel holders but they can be quite expensive.
  A cheaper option is at www.raymarart.com. They make boxes from corrugated plastic and are lighter in weight than the wooden version
• Wide brim hat for sun protection
• Digital camera (or I-Phone)
• Bug spray
• Landscape reference photos in case of rain (please, no magazine pictures)
• Notebook/ball point pen for note-taking in classCanvas Panels:I generally use 9×7” and 8×10” sized panels/canvas boards for my plein airs.
  Make sure to have plenty of panels for the duration of the workshop. You can bring up to 15 panels total in various sizes. If you run out of panels I will provide some for you.
  NOTE: 9×12” panels can also be used to split into 4 parts (quarters) using 1/2 inch masking tape (for small value and color comps)RayMar makes quality linen panels. If you don’t want to go the linen route, I’d suggest ordering the smooth cotton panels from RayMar: http://www.raymarart.com/Canvas-Panels-Linen-Panels-RayMar-Painting-Panels-s/59.htmFredrix brand also carries economy canvas panels if you are on a budget: http://www.rexart.com/fredrix_archival_canvas_boards.htmlBlick Art Materials also carry some wonderful canvas panels at reasonable prices: http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-canvas-panels/
  main web site:
  http://www.dickblick.com/Wholesale Art/Frames carries really affordable panels in various sizes! http://www.wholesaleartsframes.com/canvas-panels/

  SourceTek – a great source for quality panels: www.canvaspanels.com.

Paints:

For this workshop, we will use a limited palette. Listed below are the colors we’ll use for the workshop:

• Titanium White
• Cadmium Yellow Medium (student grade is fine)
• Yellow Ochre
• Indian Yellow (‘Gamblin’)
• Cadmium Red Light (student grade is fine)
• Thalo Red Rose (also called Quinacridone Rose)
• Alizarin Crimson
• French Ultramarine Blue
• Ivory Black (for gray scale value studies only)
• NOTE: you can also use ‘Water Soluble Oils’ if you preferLinks for Art Supply Stores:Here are some links to web sites that offer plein air equipment and painting accessories:Artwork Essentialshttp://www.artworkessentials.comJudson Outfittershttp://www.pochade.com

  Dick Blick Art Materials

  http://www.dickblick.com

  Cheap Joe’s Art Supplies

  http://www.cheapjoes.com/

  Art Supply Warehouse

  http://www.aswexpress.com/

  Utrecht Art Supplies

  http://www.utrechtart.com/