Shelley Bolton | Glazes & Phases in Abstraction

Instructor: Shelley Bolton

Workshop: ‘Glazes and Phases’ in Abstraction

Dates: January 23-26, 2026

Days: 4

Hours: 9:30am-4:30pm

Level: Emerging and experience artists (painting experience required)

Size: 12

Tuition: $1,150

Supplies: Not included

Looking to give your paintings more richness and depth? Discover the magic of glazing and working in phases!

In this workshop, you’ll explore how transparent layers of color can transform your work—adding subtle luminosity, enhancing form, and creating that captivating sense of depth that draws the viewer in. Whether you’re new to the technique or ready to refine your approach, glazing opens up endless possibilities for vibrancy and visual harmony in your paintings.

Dive into a multi-step process of push and pull—creating a composition, pushing it back or "veiling" it with glazes, and then going back on top again, glazing again, etc. 

Work with abstract concepts and build an exciting mixed media composition. Through art demos, talks/group discussions, and exercises we will play with different techniques, tools, and approaches to give you new tools to enhance your individual artistic voice. 

What to Expect

- create in a non competitive atmosphere where the goal is the process not the outcome - taking it back to play

- painting demos with Q&A's

- fun exercises, may or may not be some dancing..... 

- creating different glazes and working with mediums

- individual  paint time

- techniques and tools experimentation

- building layers, push and pull, making order out of chaos!

- paint big, loose, and make intuitive decisions 

- judgement free environment

Designed For

This workshop is designed for artists—both emerging and established—who already have some painting experience.

Teaching Style

"I’ve always believed that art should feel like an adventure, playful, a little unpredictable, and full of joy. There’s just nothing like the buzz in a room when a bunch of creatives come together, letting go of perfection and diving into the process with open hearts. In this workshop, I’ll be your guide as we explore, experiment, and see where the paint and our curiosity take us!"

-Shelley Bolton

Instructor Bio

Shelley Bolton (Sheebo) is an abstract artist currently living and working in Memphis, Tennessee. Her work, which is influenced by the Cubist style, is a reflection of the textures and rich, organic layers of the landscapes in which she is surrounded. Vibrant strokes and loose drips reveal her fascination with the interaction between line and shape, and challenge traditional representations of landscape through abstraction. Shelley builds her canvases with layers of acrylic and mixed media, often including written messages, to create compositions with rich narratives that encourage close viewing. At the core of her practice is Shelley's faith, which is both a motivation for continual growth in her practice as well as the ultimate vehicle for reflecting on the beauty in creation. 

Shelley is from Laurel, Mississippi and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Mississippi with an emphasis in graphic design. In addition to her own studio, Shelley has taught art to hundreds of adults and children, and is inspired by the way children create without fear of failure. Her works are represented in the collections of international private and corporate clients, and she has exhibited widely in both solo and group shows.

Supply List

It is important to note that it is not necessary to purchase everything. If you have supplies similar to anything on the list or something you prefer to use in your practice, please bring. I am mindful of how expensive art supplies are and will be happy to share my tools or work with you in using what you bring.

Canvas/Substrate:

*can bring either/or

-Rolled canvas - your choice in brand/weight, but heavier canvas weight is more durable so I usually use 12oz or 15oz.

-Stretched canvas - (if driving) we will be working large, nothing smaller than 36x36 (suggest having hanging mechanisms already installed with wire)

Paint

• Golden Heavy Body, Liquitex Heavy Body, or Nova paints are the 3 brands I use. The following colors listed will be used for a limited palette exercise, but feel free to use your preference of brand and bring extra colors (esp transparent shades):

• Alizarin Crimson

• Ultramarine Blue

• Cadmium Yellow

• Titanium White

• Raw Umber

• Golden High Flow Acrylic, your choice of color but at least have 2 or 3 plus white

Medium

I prefer Golden brand, may substitute brand and use sheen of your preference:

• Glazing Liquid

• Airbrush Medium

• GAC 100 (Golden only) **optional

• Acrylic Medium

Brushes

• Bring your favorite brushes you already have on hand, make sure to include a large brush for glazing and multiple medium to large options for bigger work. Below are some of my favorites and are merely suggestions/**optional :

• Rosemary & Co. 24” handle (can attach a dowel or stick to existing brush to lengthen)

• Large brushes - my favorite is the Liquitex Freestyle 4” broad flat short handle

• Cheap chip brushes found in the painting dept. at Lowe’s and Home Depot

• Princeton Egbert-natural bristle, size 12

• Princeton Umbria Brush-flat wash, short handle 1.5”

• Mega Brush (available at Michael’s and Blick), Flat or Filbert, size 30

Scrapers

• Any scrapers or squeegees ( I will have extra of both on hand, I buy my squeegees at the Dollar Store)

• Colour Shapers, any sizes

• Brayer, any sizes -**optional (I will have extra on hand)

Mark-Making Tools/Pencils

• Oil pastels in array of colors

• Ebony pencil, 2-3

• Stabilo Woody 3 in 1 pencil black , and a sharpener

• Any mixed media markers, pencils, pastels, stencils, etc you have on hand, **optional

Palette Paper

Freezer paper (my preference) or palette paper pad, we will be working a large table space mixing color and glazes so make sure to have a roll or enough to spread out.

Miscellaneous

• Wide painters tape, *optional, I will have extra if needed

• Ear pods/ear phones for some music inspired techniques, **optional

• rags (PaintSpace Nola will have some paper towels)

• Gloves, **optional

Most supplies can be ordered from:

• Blick Art Materials

• Nova Paints

• Jerry’s Artarama

• Amazon

• Rosemary & Co. Brush company

Items supplied by PaintSpace Nola (PSN):

• Spray bottle

• Water container

• Scissors

• Giant push pins (for attaching rolled canvas)

• Small hammer (for attaching rolled canvas)

• Brush cleaner

• Hand cleaner

Please feel free to email me at sb@shelleyboltonart if you have any questions.

Instructor Website

https://www.shelleyboltonart.com/