BAROQUE STILL LIFE: REMIXING THE PAST
5 Day Workshop
Dates: Monday August 31st - Friday September 4th, 2026
9:30 AM-4:30 PM
Instructor: Dan Bunn
Do you ever wonder what makes paintings in the museum glow and sing? Or what did artists of the past consider when they began a painting? Furthermore, how the heck did they produce the stunning masterpieces we cherish today, in eras before science, and with minimal technology?
During this 5 day workshop, join oil painter and educator Dan Bunn in a deep dive to reverse engineer the aesthetics and processes of Baroque still life painters, using contemporary materials and sensibilities to make impactful artwork.
We’ll consider materials, subject, and creating a studio scenario that will set you up to make a convincing painting, as well as cover basic to advanced concepts for how to pull it all together when you’re working on your own later. During the 5 days we will go through a full painting process, from picture planning to finishing touches.
Goals for the week
- Go through all the steps of a reliable and repeatable painting process
- Become connoisseurs of esoteric painting niches and find your own lane - Follow what’s fun for you so you can get off the ‘struggle bus’ and do your thing
You will learn
- Hybrid painting and drawing process that uses minimal technology and industry best practices to construct a painting that will last a long time.
- Brush drawing, using comparative measuring concepts to capture believable proportions - Rendering techniques that combine form principles, light/shadow analysis, and observation - Interpret and decipher the past through old paintings and become a collector - Design impactful artwork using reliable picture planning techniques
Schedule
(Subject to change depending on needs of the participants)
Day 1:
Introductions, brief presentation - what is Baroque still life?
Looking at favorite still life paintings, setting up the target, naming the bull’s eye. Let’s try to hit it!
Demo, Oil transfer ‘Study page I’ from handout with warm up exercises
Work time with individual guidance
(Lunch break)
Value Presentation
Building a set up - can modify later if needed
Value study demo
Work time
Day 2:
Color study demo
Work time
Brush drawing demo
(Lunch break)
Work time
Goal: to start rendering by the end of day two or day three morning
Day 3:
Demo, three phases of painting, area by area, varying ways to start based on material texture Building from ebauche and/or form layer depending on subject
Work time
Day 4:
Demo, area by area, 2nd pass if possible/necessary on some areas
Work time
Day 5:
Work time
Demo before lunch on glazing and finishing
(Lunch break)
Glazing and finishing, conclusions
Review everyone’s paintings as a group and discuss take-aways :)
Instructor 
Dan Bunn (b. 1991, Madison, WI) is a Brooklyn based artist. He has been painting since he was a child in southern Wisconsin. In 2014 he received a BFA from California College of the Arts and in 2020 a certificate from Grand Central Atelier in Queens. His work has been collected and exhibited national and internationally.