Workshops & Classes

4-WEEK CLASS (5 meetings)

The Happy Habit of Daily (or almost Daily) Painting – IN PERSON

LOCATION: The North Carolina Museum of Art (in-person)
2023 DATES: Wednesdays, 10:30 am to 1:00 pm, from January 18 to February 15, 2023
REGISTER HERE SOLD OUT!
Do you want to learn about upcoming or online classes, please join the announcements list
REQUIREMENTS: Previous knowledge of painting. This is a class focused on habit formation, not on painting techniques. It is not for beginner painters.
MEDIUM: Acrylics or Oils (demonstrations are done using acrylics)

Why this class? If you are here, you probably know!

I created this class because I struggled with finding time to paint! To make it a priority. And I well knew that the more you paint the better you become at painting. It is very easy to say! I knew the theory, but how to put it into practice when you have so much to do every day? Or so much time you don’t know where to start and lose your precious time!

I surrounded myself with successful artists that paint daily, followed their blogs, brought them to town, coordinated their workshops, took their workshops (many times!), and joined painting challenges on Facebook, where you paint one painting a day for 5 days and post them. All wonderful tools! But, after the workshops and the challenges, everything went back to where it was: finding it hard to make time to paint. (And I wasn’t the only one! After almost 10 years of coordinating painting workshops I heard the same struggle from many workshop students.)

In 2018 I finally did it! I painted most days. How did I do it? I did some serious research on habit formation and also a fantastic opportunity showed up. I’ll share all I learned with you during the time we spent together. I’ll guide you on how to create your happy habit of most days painting, yes yours! We are all different and have different needs, routines and activities, but we all can create a habit if we really want to, have the right tools, the right motivation, and feel accountable. This class will give you all that! You just bring up the “really wanting to” part 😉

THIS CLASS WILL OFFER YOU:

The 4 pillars needed to form the habit of daily (or most days) painting.
The right motivation, practical ideas, and how some master painters do it.
Painting exercises that’ll help you create the habit of showing up at your easel most days.
A tribe of like-minded people with the common goal of creating this happy habit.
Time to enjoy the North Carolina Museum of Art collection from the Daily Painter’s point of view 😉

TESTIMONIALS ABOUT THE HAPPY HABIT

This class has been life-changing for me, and that is huge. I have so much gratitude and so
much respect for you, Monica as a teacher and an artist. You are knowledgeable about the
subject of habit forming, and daily painting, and you communicate in a clear and succinct way that
engages the students and makes this class not only life-changing but fun.

Mónica synthesized all the best research from the top social scientists on habit formation and
related it to daily painting for us. She does it in such an organized and thoughtful way. I am
really motivated to get in my studio because I have deeper knowledge about how and why I want to
create. Meg Sellig, NJ

Monica is an accomplished artist, but also a great teacher. She presents her curriculum in an
organized and well-researched way; she goes back over previous topics in each class to
reinforce where we’ve been before moving on. Also, she’s so kind, pleasant, and generous
with her insights!

I really enjoyed this class because it made me more aware of my intentions. There are days
that do not work at all with your intentions, but you can always start back the next day. …and
that’s ok. T Powers

This class gave me many tools to implement that form the habit of daily painting. Prior to this
class, I was struggling to paint on a daily basis. Now, I am consistently painting on a daily
basis.

Monica’s class helped me get back to my easel. She has a wonderful way of encouraging her
students and her honesty about her daily habits is so relatable. Her habits class was really a
happy experience with lots of great information. JVS

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4-WEEK CLASS (5 meetings)

The Happy Habit of Daily (or almost Daily) Painting – ONLINE

LOCATION: Online (Live weekly on Zoom and follow up in a private Facebook Group)
TIME: 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
FEE: $200
REGISTER HERE
DATES: Wednesdays from JANUARY 18 – FEBRUARY 15, 2023 (1/18 – 1/25 – 2/1 – 2/8 – 2/15)
REQUIREMENTS: Previous knowledge of painting. This is a class focused on habit formation, not on painting techniques. Not for beginner painters.
MEDIUM: Acrylics or Oils (demonstrations will be done in acrylics)
SUPPLIES: HERE
WHEN FULL: join the announcements list for future classes

Why this workshop? If you are here, you probably know!
I created this class because I struggled with finding time to paint, to make it a priority. And I well knew that the more you paint the better you get. It is very easy to say! I knew the theory, but how to put it into practice when you have so much to do every day?

In 2018 I finally did it! I painted most days (and still do!). How did I do it?

I did some serious research on habit formation and also a fantastic opportunity showed up. I’ll share all I learned with you during the time we spent together. I’ll guide you to find your happy habit of painting, yes yours! We are all different and have different needs, routines and activities, but we all can create a habit if we really want to, and have the right tools, and the right motivation. This class will give you all that, you just have to bring the “really wanting to” part.

THIS WORKSHOP WILL OFFER YOU:

The 4 pillars needed to form the habit of daily (or most days) painting.
The right motivation, practical ideas, and how some master painters do it.
Painting exercises that’ll help you create the habit of showing up at your easel most days.
A tribe of like-minded people with the common goal of creating this happy habit.

REGISTER HERE

TESTIMONIALS ABOUT THE HAPPY HABIT

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ONLINE

The Essence of Painting

If you want to seriously start painting, this is the class for you.

I believe in solid foundations, and that is what this painting class for beginners will give you. You will leave this class knowing the basics of value, color and composition, how to apply them to your paintings and I will guide you from start to finish, step by step, on your first (or third!) still life painting from a photo I will provide.

We will also discuss the best studio practices that will help you paint frequently, because that’s the secret to improve faster.

With these essentials you will be able to continue exploring the wonderful world of painting on your own…until we meet in a future class 😉

How will it work?

We will meet 3 consecutive days, live on Zoom, for about 1.5 hours. (I will record the classes in case you can’t participate live). Each day we will talk about one painting topic and you will do an exercise right after the class or at any time before the next one.

After the third lesson you will have a couple of days to finish a painting. You will have access to a step by step painting demonstration. That way you can paint along me at your own pace.

On the 4th day we will meet again to talk about your work, give you feedback and answer any questions.

We will paint with acrylics.

DATE: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and following Monday
TIME: 1.5 hours max daily on Zoom
MEDIUM: Acrylics
LEVEL: Beginners
FEE: $60
SUPPLIES LIST: on the registration page

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

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Paint a Bunch with Intention by Mónica Linares

The Power of Working in Series

I will help you build a body of work based on photo references. Working in series will help you learn all you can about one subject. It will help you find consistency and your unique voice! Also if you are planning on exhibiting your work anywhere, even on social media!, working in series is the way to go.

We will make a plan, create structure, I’ll guide you where you need it and offer accountability for you to start building a consistent body of work. In other words: To paint a bunch with intention

Description

DATE: TBD
TIME: 1:00 am to 4:00 pm
FEE: TBD
LOCATION: COMING SOON!
MEDIUM: Acrylics
LEVEL: Basic knowledge of painting required | STUDENTS: Max. 12

4-Week Class Description – You can work on the theme of your preference: landscape, still life, interiors, cityscape or floral, I’ll be demonstrating a floral painting.

I realized that what I enjoy to teach the most is giving you structure, accountability, motivation, the right challenge and enough technique information to keep you going so you can paint daily or frequently enough for you to explore and get better at painting, and most importantly, to find your own and unique voice.

You probably have a good foundation by studying on your own, through workshops and classes or by being a Happy Habit alumni; but sometimes if we are not surrounded by a community that keep us accountable we lose track of time, start prioritizing other things and before we know it, our painting practice is gone.

The second thing that can happen is that we keep painting frequently but become “painterly disperse”. We try a little bit of this and a little bit of that without a painting goal, without thinking: What do I want? How do I want to grow? Where do I focus?. Sometimes that’s great!, but sometimes we need some parameters to push us in one direction, find consistency and a steady growing, until we want to shift and grow in another direction. Based on my experience, focusing on one subject for some time helps a lot!

That’s why I am offering a month long class. I will take a maximum of 10 students because I want to have enough time to dedicate to all of you. I will help you build, or start building, a body of work based on photo references. Creating a body of work, or working in series, will help you learn all you can about one subject. It will help you find consistency which is wonderful if you are planning on exhibiting, creating a portfolio to bring to a gallery, or as simply as sharing your work on social media. And it will help you find your voice!

We will make a plan, create structure, I’ll guide you where you need it and offer accountability for you to start building a consistent body of work. In other words: To paint a bunch with intention!

REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS CLASS

Preferably being a Happy Habit Alumni or having previous painting experience

To have a painting subject you want to dedicate a month to: Landscape, Cityscape, Still life or Interior. I will be doing a floral demo first day of class.

To have at least 20 photos taken by you to work from for the whole month. Bring them printed or on a tablet (you will choose, with my help, 8 to work from)

To paint most days (you don’t need to finish a painting a day, but you have to paint or sketch most days)

Being flexible! This is a very malleable class. Depending on the painting subject you choose, the content could vary a bit. This will be a growing experience for you and for me!

What will happen during these 3 hours?

First I will share technical information (one painting element per week: values, composition, color, consistency and putting it all together) and one well known artist exhibit per week. Then I will assign you homework, do a quick floral painting demo on the first week and will answer any questions you might have. Then you will go to your easel and start your first assignment.

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MONTHLY

ARTribe

LOCATION: TBD
TIME: 10 am to 12:15 pm
UPCOMING DATE: To be determined
Interested in joining our daily painting community? Send us an e-mail!
MAX. amount of students 10, MINIMUM 6
REQUIREMENTS: Happy Habit and Paint A-Bunch alumni

I created the ARTribe after a wonderful group of artists working on becoming daily painters (from our Happy Habit class) requested a way to stay in touch, motivated, in painting shape, and inside a daily painters (or most day painters) tribe! We artists know how lonely the life of an artist can be. In our studios (and our heads!) all the time! Thinking, solving, seeing, creating, and knowing how much we need connection with other thinkers and creators to feel supported (and understood!). We need to build a community of like minded people!

This will also be a place to share information about opportunities for painters, exhibitions, lectures and anything that can keep us motivated to paint daily.