Two-hour sessions, twice per week, for six weeks.  Hands-on, real learning!

Forget the still-life bowl of fruit. This course takes students out of the sketchbook and onto the sidewalk — painting Tampa and Ybor City exactly as they are: sun-bleached brick, wrought-iron balconies, palm shadows cutting across the pavement, the hum of a city that doesn't sit still for anyone.

Plein air (French for "open air") means painting on location, in real time, in real light — no photo references, no do-overs when the sun moves. It's one of the fastest ways for a young artist to develop a trained eye, because the world in front of them refuses to hold still.

What students will build over 6 weeks:

• 🏙️ Observational drawing skills — translating three-dimensional architecture onto a flat surface with real perspective, not guesswork
• 🎨 Color mixing under changing light — learning why a wall isn't just "gray," it's a dozen colors depending on the hour
• 🖌️ Working fast and loose — plein air forces decisiveness; students learn to commit to a mark instead of overworking it
• 🌇 Composition — choosing what to include, what to crop, and how to lead a viewer's eye through an urban scene
• 🧭 A finished body of work — six cityscape studies by course end, each from a different Ybor/Tampa vantage point

Good fit for: middle and high schoolers who want real technical growth, not just a craft hour — this is a studio-level course paced for teens, with critique and instruction geared toward developing genuine painting fundamentals.

Format: Weekly on-location sessions around Tampa and Ybor City, weather-dependent with an indoor backup studio session built in.