Day 1 / Introduction to Palette Knife Oil Painting 
Friday, May 19 - Oils – Palette Knife
How to capture the energy, drama, action movement and detail using various techniques with a single palette knife. On location, Ken will show you how to “squint” and paint different landscape objects using impasto application of oil paint. Any skill level.

Day 2 / Oils – Palette Knife
Saturday, May 20
Ken will show you how to create towering, dramatic sky-scapes with panoramic landscape views utilizing the palette knife to add texture and sculptural element to your painting. Any skill level.
 
Workshop Hours: 10am  – 4 pm

About Ken Wilson

Ken was born, raised and educated in Albany, New York. Following a decorated career with the New York State Police, Ken has become a recognized, award-winning artist, specializing in equine and landscape painting, and  best known for his landscape paintings done in oils with palette knife. He was recently featured by Eric Rhoads in the Outdoor Painter Podcast –  How to paint with a Palette Knife.

Ken became a full-time artist in 2013 and has a knack for making a scene come to life. Ken works in a variety of styles; some paintings are strictly representational, while others come from a more abstract perspective. Much of his work is done Plein Air, and he says he’s one of very few African-American plein air artists in the country, as well as the first African-American artist to paint and retail equine art at a major race track in the United States, namely at Saratoga Race Course.

Ken said Plein Air painting, gives him “the peace and catharsis of just getting out there and creating something.” Much of his work can be seen using an impasto technique with a heavy textures combined with vibrant use of colors, often mixing colors straight on the canvas and applying with a single palette knife.  The effect that impasto can give is one of movement and energy. The texture allows certain areas of the painting to become striking—an if an artist can harness this texture in such a way to make areas of their painting stand out to the viewer as can appear very dimensional and sculptural.  That’s where the magic can be found as one can imagine Van Gogh felt the same way with his impasto oil Starry Night.

During racing season, when his boutique is open, he often goes to the track at first light to sketch the horses. “I’ve always been intrigued by horses and horse physiology. Just the majestic beauty and power of horses, in particular, racehorses because they’re true athletes, the way they train,” Wilson said.

“Horses are like dogs, they know when someone is kind and someone is a human they can trust,” Wilson said. “… horses that would give other people a hard time, they’d just come over and put their head right on my shoulder and I would talk to them and pet them.”

Aim is to help kids

Ken continues to work in plein air around his home town and beyond. In the future, he hopes to give kids living in urban areas the opportunity to paint plein air as well. 

“I’m a kid that grew up on Arbor Hill, I grew up on Second Street in Albany and if I had just locked myself into my environment then I would have done just that very parochial thing where you only paint what you know,” Wilson said.

“Just try to open their eyes to art and that there’s a big world outside of that which they live and it gets them in nature and out of that environment for a little bit,” Wilson said.