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4-Week Abstracting the Floral Workshop

Class begins June 9, 2025

Enrollment has closed.

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I love to paint flowers!

Flowers are some of the most inspiring and beautiful gifts that nature has to offer, but capturing their essence in our paintings is tricky. The excitement and emotion they inspire can often be replaced by careful copying and frustration. When we do get it right, there really is nothing more satisfying. 

- Gabriel Mark Lipper

What is Abstracting the Floral Workshop?

 

Whether you're working from a fresh bouquet, a beautiful photograph or drawing flowers from your imagination, this workshop focuses on everything floral. We'll be grappling with big bulb ideas; like how to simplify the basic forms, create dynamic compositions, and break it all apart by reducing flowers to their most abstract elements.

Create harmonious, colorful paintings that feel like the flowers you love. I'll go step by step through my process and remove the fear that so often creates stiff paintings and keeps us stuck in the details. 

General Overview:

Week 1: Floral Foundations - We will discuss the keys to approaching a complex floral composition by first generalizing and simplifying the placement of the big objects and then refining as we move forward. This is a great technique to refine the accuracy in our work without allowing the inner critic to hijack our process.
 

Week 2: Clarifying Color - We will focus on how to merge the two elements of value and color and why having a firm understanding of this concept and putting it into practice will give you more control and freedom in your art. 
 

Week 3: Playing in the Garden - We will dig into materials and experiment with techniques that give us permission to play. Play is one of the fundamental principles behind the creation of abstract art.  This is a big week packed with a lot of fun challenges. Remember to stay open to the process, recognize when you feel resistance take hold, and when in doubt, go back to your values and Notans for guidance.
 

Week 4: Floral Explosion - We get to the heart of abstraction! Gabriel will discuss and demonstrate letting go of outcome to free ourselves up to see things in a whole new way. He will revisit the four paintings in the “Imagining the Floral” series and take you along on his journey of experimentation and risk.

 

When we make time for our art, we are making time for something we love.

Honoring our creative art practice will shift how we show up in the world.

I can't wait to explore all of these new tools and techniques for abstracting the floral with you. 

Plant the seeds of creativity in the fertile soil of your artistic practice, and watch your flowers bloom!

Enrollment has closed.

To get notified of the next course or workshop click on the button below!

Get on the Notification List!

HOW IS THE WORKSHOP STRUCTURED?

On Monday of each week, 8-12 recorded lessons will be released for you to watch and digest throughout the week. They range between 5-25 minutes in length. We respect your time, so each video is clear and concise and can be watched as frequently as you like.

Each video has a comment section and we encourage you to ask questions and give us your feedback throughout the workshop. Your interaction and participating is key to getting the most out of the workshop!

Every Monday, you will also be given an assignment and are encouraged to upload your progress to the private Facebook group. Gabriel or one of the art coaches will give supportive feedback and make suggestions along the way.

This is your opportunity to engage with your peers, share insights, solutions, aha! moments and celebrations.

Every Friday at 10:30am (PDT), Gabriel will host a live Coaching Call and Q&A on Zoom where we discuss the lessons and assignments from that week. Sometimes there will be a demo as a form of explanation and other times Gabriel will select a student's work and make adjustments in real-time.  The adjustments will be based on the principles we are discussing that week.

The Coaching Call and Q&A is your time to ask questions and receive guidance about any struggles or blocks you are experiencing.

THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR YOU IF YOU ARE....

  • An emerging artist and you are searching for a way to find your artistic voice.
  • An abstract artist who values spontoneity and expression, but who desires a little more control over composition.
  • A representational artist who values the subject in their paintings, but want to loosen up in your style and brushwork.
  • A professional artist with a classical pedigree who is interested in exploring contemporary art.
  • Follow Gabriel on Instagram, Facebook or attend his workshops and know he is the right mentor for you.
  • Inspired by the free 3-day Abstracting the Floral Workshop and want more! 
Just wanted to share my thoughts with folks “on the fence” about Gabe’s upcoming course. As a true beginner last year, I wasn’t sure I would “fit in”. After much back and forth in my mind, I decided to sign up with the idea of canceling within the “give it a try” period if the course didn’t seem like a good fit. Long story short, it took about five days for me to realize that I had found my place.
 
-Betsy Bashusha Roese (Student)

Frequently Asked Questions

Wow! Four weeks in and it has been the most incredible experience - thanks so much to Gabriel and co. I think I’ve learned more from this experience than any other course!

 

- Kate Braithwaite
(Abstracting the Floral Alumni)
And me. I am only finishing Week 2 but I feel as though I have learned so much already and only half way there. I can’t wait to get through to the end and then start again with so much more knowledge and ideas…thank you Gabe for being such a fantastic teacher and so generous with sharing your skills…
Best course I have ever been on by far…and believe me I have been quite a few….thank you a million

 

Susie Liddell-
(Abstracting the Floral Alumni)
 
I just have to say how much I Love Love Love the week 4 videos! They have inspired me, and see that I can get back from the frustration I was feeling with my choice of such a complicated reference. I was trying for perfection at too early a stage … now am ready to soldier on with enthusiasm… Thanks, Gabriel!

 

- Shirley Sar
(Abstracting the Floral Alumni)
 

Hello! I'm Gabriel Lipper, a professional painter, instructor and founder of 8Paint Infinite Arts. 

With over 30 years of painting experience, I've built a life doing what I love. 

Having suffered through the rigors of classical training, I have come to combine the traditional academic approach with my own contemporary style and love of painting. As an instructor to creatives world-wide, I want to assist you along YOUR own artistic journey that took me years to learn!